How Huawei’s sales are beating US sanctions

The Chinese firm managed to boost its sales even as the overall market declined, remaining on the heels of sector leader Samsung and ahead of US-based Apple.

According to Strategy Analytics, overall global smartphone sales fell 2.6 percent to 341 million units in the April-June period but showed signs of stabilizing after several quarters of declines.

Samsung increased its market share to 22 percent, helped by a seven percent rise in handset sales, with growth seen in the mid-range and entry segments. The South Korean giant stayed ahead of Huawei, which was at 17 percent, and Apple at 11 percent of the market.

“Huawei surprised everyone and grew its global smartphone shipments by eight percent annually,” said Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston.

“Huawei surged at home in China during the quarter, as the firm sought to offset regulatory uncertainty in other major regions such as North America and Western Europe.”

The research firm estimated that Apple, which released its results this week without details on unit shipments, saw an eight percent drop in iPhone sales in the quarter.

“Apple is stabilizing in China due to price adjustments and buoyant trade-ins, but other major markets such as India and Europe remain challenging for the expensive iPhone,” said Woody Oh, director at Strategy Analytics.

A separate report by Counterpoint Research offered similar findings, showing Samsung, Huawei and Apple in the three top spots as overall sales fell.

Analyst Tarun Pathak at Counterpoint said, however, the US ban on technology sales to Huawei will have an impact in the coming months.

“The effect of the ban did not translate into falling shipments during this quarter, which will not be the case in the future,” Pathak said.

“In the coming quarters, Huawei is likely to be aggressive in its home market and register some growth there, but it will not be enough to offset the decline in its overseas shipments. This will further lead to the decline of the overall smartphone market in 2019.”

The surveys indicated Chinese makers Xiaomi and Oppo holding the fourth and fifth spots, largely due to sales in their home markets.

According to Counterpoint, the combined global smartphone market share of Chinese majors Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Realme reached 42 percent, the highest it has ever been.