Huawei Didn’t Need The U.S. To Take Second Place In Global Smartphone Market

Huawei has been trying its best to break into the U.S. market for smartphones and other devices, but is facing significant roadblocks. Specifically, U.S. lawmakers have urged Google and other U.S. firms to get away from using all Huawei hardware over security concerns and its close ties to the Chinese government. Despite being blocked in the U.S., Huawei says it won't give up on the U.S. market. Despite the U.S. uncertainty, Huawei has now taken the second-place spot in global smartphone rankings.

It took that spot from Apple in Q2 2018 according to IDC. In Q2 2018, Huawei shipped 54.2 million devices out of the total of 342 million smartphones shipped globally. Part of what helped Huawei sell so many devices was that it is the clear leader in China with 27% of the smartphone market.

That's not the only place that Huawei is popular; the Honor line of mid-range devices sell well globally. This marks the first time in eight years that Apple hasn't sat in the second-place spot for global shipments. The last time Apple was outside number two was back in Q2 2010. Despite ending up in third, Apple did grow shipments by less than 1% for the quarter moving over 41 million units. It should come as no surprise that Samsung is in the top spot globally.

Samsung owns 20.9% of the global smartphone market and shipped 71.5 million devices in the quarter. It maintained that top spot despite seeing its shipments decline 10.4% compared to the same quarter of 2017. Much of that decline can be blamed on poor sales of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ that weren't well received.