Huawei has overtaken Samsung to become the No. 1 smartphone seller worldwide in the second quarter, underscoring the resilience of the China market even as global demand for phones plunged amid the pandemic.
Industry tracker Canalys said Thursday the embattled firm, which is facing US sanctions, shipped 55.8 million devices the April-June period — overtaking Samsung for the first time, which shifted 53.7 million units.
The findings marked the first quarter in nine years that a company other than Samsung or Apple has led the market, Canalys said.
More than 70% of Huawei smartphones are now sold in the country, Canalys said, where Samsung has a very small share of the market.
China took an early hit from the coronavirus pandemic but has since reclaimed ground as new cases have dwindled. Smartphone makers dominant in other countries are still struggling as new virus cases continue to rise.
Huawei’s sales fell 5 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, while South Korea’s Samsung posted a 30 percent drop due to weak demand in key markets including Brazil, the United States and Europe.
Overseas shipments, however, fell nearly a third in the second quarter and Canalys analyst Mo Jia warned that strength in China alone “will not be enough to sustain Huawei at the top once the global economy starts to recover.”
Samsung said it expects smartphone demand to pick up in the second half of the year.