Huawei Overtakes Samsung in Smartphone Sales Numbers

The non-stop rivalry among the world's biggest tech companies is about to reach new heights with a new winner. Well, at least for a limited amount of time. 

Huawei now ranks as the number one smartphone company in the world,  ahead of Samsung, by selling more smartphones than any other of its rivals globally. It is the first time in nine years that a company other than Samsung or Apple has reigned the marketplace, the report by the technology market analyst firm, Canalys shows. 

The report covers Q2, the period between April and June, leaving Samsung in second place. 

Getting closer to the domestic market

“If it wasn’t for COVID-19, it wouldn’t have happened. Huawei has taken full advantage of the Chinese economic recovery to reignite its smartphone business. Samsung has a very small presence in China, with less than 1% market share, and has seen its core markets, such as Brazil, India, the United States, and Europe, ravaged by outbreaks and subsequent lockdowns,” explains Canalys Senior Analyst Ben Stanton.

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While Huawei is still dealing with restrictions imposed by the US government and not having direct access to Google applications due to suspension, the company still managed to have shipped 55.8 million devices. Samsung followed it with 53.7 million, in the second quarter.

Restrictions apparently had a big impact on Huawei's sales abroad, which decreased by  27%. Still, it didn't stop the company from approaching its domestic sales, which led them to make the big hit. 

A heavy burden to lift

Presumptions for the rest of the year remain a little bit unfavorable for Huawei's growth of shipments.

"It will be hard for Huawei to maintain its lead in the long term," says Mo Jia, an analyst at Canalys. Since China will not be able to keep on supporting Huawei when the world economy begins to recover and things go back to normal.

Back in August 2019, Huawei had launched its new operating system, HarmonyOS, when the speculations about Google's possible license pull had begun to take place.