Huawei surpasses Apple as world's No. 2 smartphone vendor

Posted:
in iPhone
Apple's iPhone put in a solid showing during the three months ending in June, selling 41.3 million units to contribute $29.9 billion to a record-breaking $53.3 billion in quarterly revenue. The effort was topped by Chinese upstart Huawei, however, which surpassed the Cupertino tech giant to become the world's second largest smartphone vendor.

iPhone X


According to new data from market research firms IDC, Canalys and IHS Markit, Huawei outperformed Apple in terms of units shipped for the second calendar quarter of 2018. Huawei now stands in second place among the world's top smartphone vendors, knocking Apple down to third for the first time in seven years.

Both IDC and IHS estimate the Chinese firm sold 54.2 million units during the period, while Canalys puts the number at an even 54 million. Huawei's growth, which ranges from 41 percent to 44 percent on the year, gives grants the smartphone maker a 15.7 percent share of the global market. That compares to Apple's 12.1 percent marketshare cited by IDC.

Apple on Tuesday reported its best June quarter ever, recording $53.3 billion in revenue on the back of 41.3 million iPhone sales. Though iPhone unit sales were up only one percent, device revenue surged 20 percent year-over-year on a stronger mix of premium priced handsets like iPhone X. It was Apple's most expensive phone that maintained its position as the company's best performer, helping drive average selling price to $724, up from $606 a year ago.

Still, as is often the case with low-priced consumer electronics, Huawei managed to outdo Apple in terms of sheer quantity.

"The continued growth of Huawei is impressive, to say the least, as is its ability to move into markets where, until recently, the brand was largely unknown," said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "It is worth noting that Apple moved into the top position each of the last two holiday quarters following its product refresh, so it's likely we'll see continued movement among the top ranked companies in 2018 and beyond. For most markets, the ultra-high end ($700+) competition is largely some combination of Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, depending on the geography, and this is unlikely to change much in the short term."

Samsung led the pack with 71.5 million smartphone shipments to take 20.9 percent of the market, a contraction of 10.4 percent year-over-year, IDC said. Canalys found slightly higher numbers for the South Korean manufacturer at 73 million units shipped, while IHS estimates put Samsung's performance at 70.8 million phones.

Following Apple was Xiaomi and Oppo, with a respective 31.9 million and 29.4 million units shipped for the quarter, according to IDC. Xiaomi's growth represents a 48.8 percent change from the same time last year, while Oppo posted gains of 5.1 percent.

Overall, IDC found the smartphone market contracted 1.8 percent year-over-year, echoing recent findings from other market research firms warning of a wider slowdown.

During an investor conference call on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said smartphone market fluctuations belie the segment's true health. When asked to comment on recent figures, Cook said he believes the smartphone market is "very healthy."

"I think it's actually the best market in the world to be in for someone that is in the business that we're in," Cook said. "It's an enormous sized market and whether it grows, from our point of view, whether it grows 1 or 2 percent, or 5 or 6 percent, or 10 percent, or shrinks 1 or 2 percent, it's a great market because it's just huge."
«1345678

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 141
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    LOL. Who cares about units shipped? Down that road lies ruin.
    tmaymagman1979cornchipchristopher126pscooter63racerhomie3darren mccoymike1StrangeDaysanton zuykov
  • Reply 2 of 141
    I picked up on that too - are they comparing Apple's units sold with Hauwei's units shipped? I don't if this is the case but too often in the past I've seen manufacturers stuff the channels with inventory but it looks good for their numbers.

    Apple probably shrugged this off anyways - their goal isn't to be #1 - their goal is to be the best. Therefore, cheaper competitors can often outsell Apple though their profits can be paltry compared to Apple. 
    tmaymagman1979anantksundaramracerhomie3watto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 3 of 141
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Market capitalization is a vanity metric and so is “world’s largest smartphone vendor.” If Apple makes it to $1trillion all it’s worth is bragging rights. If Huawei is #2 all it’s worth is bragging rights too. These types of metrics are used by the media and analysts to generate debate and ad clicks. We dutifully comply by touting these meaningless metrics as a form of bias confirmation.
    magman1979muthuk_vanalingamHyperealitybaconstangwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 4 of 141
    olsols Posts: 51member
    Not an issue for apple but quite one for Samsung. Well, who cares...
    edited July 2018 anantksundaramcornchipmuthuk_vanalingamStrangeDaysbaconstangwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 5 of 141
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,846member
    What's the ASP of Hwoowuh phones? Less than half the iPhone's no doubt. Last thing I'd want is a phone that's full of Chinese spyware. Possibly even worse than NSA spyware.

    Cook claiming the smartphone market is "very healthy" is probably true, mainly due to people breaking their phones and getting new replacements, and phones getting old and slow, but the number upgrading for features has certainly reduced. That and the saturation of the market means little growth. I have a 6s and it's still fast and perfectly adequate for fairly heavy daily use. I have no real reason to upgrade.
    edited July 2018 magman1979baconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 141
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    LOL. Who cares about units shipped? Down that road lies ruin.
    IDC about IDC.
    rich gregorypscooter63watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 141
    seankillseankill Posts: 567member
    theLedger said:
    I picked up on that too - are they comparing Apple's units sold with Hauwei's units shipped? I don't if this is the case but too often in the past I've seen manufacturers stuff the channels with inventory but it looks good for their numbers.

    Apple probably shrugged this off anyways - their goal isn't to be #1 - their goal is to be the best. Therefore, cheaper competitors can often outsell Apple though their profits can be paltry compared to Apple. 
    It’s probably a fair assumption that just about all of these phones are sold at some point, you can’t just keep filling the channels forever. But we know they will sell at a fraction of the MRSP, much less an iPhone MRSP. 
    edited July 2018 muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 141
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,309member
    elijahg said:
    What's the ASP of Hwoowuh phones? Less than half the iPhone's no doubt. Last thing I'd want is a phone that's full of Chinese spyware. Possibly even worse than NSA spyware.

    Cook claiming the smartphone market is "very healthy" is probably true, mainly due to people breaking their phones and getting new replacements, and phones getting old and slow, but the number upgrading for features has certainly reduced. That and the saturation of the market means little growth. I have a 6s and it's still fast and perfectly adequate for fairly heavy daily use. I have no real reason to upgrade.
    Glad you’re happy with an older phone but I upgraded to an 8 plus and love it, especially the 2x lens. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 141
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    LOL. Who cares about units shipped? Down that road lies ruin.
    And units of what shipped?  Are Apple’s, Huawei’s & Samsung’s definition of ‘smartphones’ really the same? Where’s the ASP for the other devices?
    cornchipairmanchairmanwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 141
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,846member
    rob53 said:
    elijahg said:
    What's the ASP of Hwoowuh phones? Less than half the iPhone's no doubt. Last thing I'd want is a phone that's full of Chinese spyware. Possibly even worse than NSA spyware.

    Cook claiming the smartphone market is "very healthy" is probably true, mainly due to people breaking their phones and getting new replacements, and phones getting old and slow, but the number upgrading for features has certainly reduced. That and the saturation of the market means little growth. I have a 6s and it's still fast and perfectly adequate for fairly heavy daily use. I have no real reason to upgrade.
    Glad you’re happy with an older phone but I upgraded to an 8 plus and love it, especially the 2x lens. 
    If the X hadn't been so outrageously priced, I probably would have got one, if anything just for the celebration of 10 years of iPhone! I'd upgraded about every 2 years since the original was released; I had the "2G", 3G, 4, 5s and 6s. I would definitely like to upgrade, but I'm not sure it's worth it yet based on features vs cost. Maybe the 9? 11? will take my fancy!
  • Reply 11 of 141
    Junk for a junk market. As usual, with stolen IP. 

    Ugh. 
    MoorePhotographyolsStrangeDaysanton zuykovwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 141
    No mention in this article of actual revenue let alone profit. We all know Samsung outsells everyone else by sheer units shipped but its profitability on those sales compared to Apple is pitiful. Same goes for Huawei. I know which I'd prefer "bragging rights" to!
    elijahgwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 141
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,525member
    For Apple to sell more iPhones to China and India, all they need to do is incorporate dual SIM chips.
    Yes, it’s really that simple. I’ve traveled to Asia several times, and when I asked why didn’t you buy an iPhone instead, their answer was so they didn’t have to carry two phones.
    This is also a problem here in the US with corporate issued phones. You must carry your company phone and your personal.
    bb-15elijahg
  • Reply 14 of 141
    seankillseankill Posts: 567member
    rob53 said:
    elijahg said:
    What's the ASP of Hwoowuh phones? Less than half the iPhone's no doubt. Last thing I'd want is a phone that's full of Chinese spyware. Possibly even worse than NSA spyware.

    Cook claiming the smartphone market is "very healthy" is probably true, mainly due to people breaking their phones and getting new replacements, and phones getting old and slow, but the number upgrading for features has certainly reduced. That and the saturation of the market means little growth. I have a 6s and it's still fast and perfectly adequate for fairly heavy daily use. I have no real reason to upgrade.
    Glad you’re happy with an older phone but I upgraded to an 8 plus and love it, especially the 2x lens. 
    My wife and I will be skipping the 2 year upgrade for the first time with the 7+ (With $29 battery replacements in December). The features and speed of the newer model aren’t terribly desiring for the cost. The 6.5 inch screen is nice though. The camera is still my main reason to upgrade but the technology is far enough along that I’m content for my uses. 

    I do think we can expect the iPhone sales to stay where they are, plenty of 3-4 year old iPhones needing upgrades. 
    edited July 2018
  • Reply 15 of 141
    I use my 12.9" iPad Pro a lot more these days mainly because nobody makes phone calls anymore. I text all of my clients and they too. So, I'm still rockin' a 6 Plus. The only reason to upgrade is for the 8 Plus' camera, but that's an expensive camera. If I can get a cheap 8 plus I'll take it, but I'm waiting on the 3rd gen 12.9" iPad Pros.
    jbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 141
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    Apple is fortunate that their competition focuses on the wrong things...
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 141
    LOL. Who cares about units shipped? Down that road lies ruin.
    Agreed. It's the 'Walmart' business model, 'Sell lots of cheap, crap products and make a little on each one.'

    It's a mug's game, unless you're Walmart, Coke, MS, MacDonald's, GM, Samsung, Dell, HP, Proctor & Gamble, Cox Cable, Amazon, Google, ATT, Verizon, pizza companies, Grocery stores, etc., etc.

    If you can sell your 'waste' product, (think V8 Juice), you can make money! :)
    smalmwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 141
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,690member
    seankill said:
    theLedger said:
    I picked up on that too - are they comparing Apple's units sold with Hauwei's units shipped? I don't if this is the case but too often in the past I've seen manufacturers stuff the channels with inventory but it looks good for their numbers.

    Apple probably shrugged this off anyways - their goal isn't to be #1 - their goal is to be the best. Therefore, cheaper competitors can often outsell Apple though their profits can be paltry compared to Apple. 
    It’s probably a fair assumption that just about all of these phones are sold at some point, 

    Not really. Most of these cheap phones will more than likely be used for warranty replacement or returned to the vendor as unsold stock. Neither of which is EVER reported.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 141
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    The important thing to remember IDC "estimated" the shipments they made, more made up numbers from a bunch analysis who have a story to tell. No one will ever know if the made up numbers are real.

    It's like trying to find how many lick it takes too the center of lollypop. The would may never know.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 141
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    elijahg said:
    rob53 said:
    elijahg said:
    What's the ASP of Hwoowuh phones? Less than half the iPhone's no doubt. Last thing I'd want is a phone that's full of Chinese spyware. Possibly even worse than NSA spyware.

    Cook claiming the smartphone market is "very healthy" is probably true, mainly due to people breaking their phones and getting new replacements, and phones getting old and slow, but the number upgrading for features has certainly reduced. That and the saturation of the market means little growth. I have a 6s and it's still fast and perfectly adequate for fairly heavy daily use. I have no real reason to upgrade.
    Glad you’re happy with an older phone but I upgraded to an 8 plus and love it, especially the 2x lens. 
    If the X hadn't been so outrageously priced, I probably would have got one, if anything just for the celebration of 10 years of iPhone! I'd upgraded about every 2 years since the original was released; I had the "2G", 3G, 4, 5s and 6s. I would definitely like to upgrade, but I'm not sure it's worth it yet based on features vs cost. Maybe the 9? 11? will take my fancy!
    If the X is so outrageously priced then why is it Apple’s best selling product? Just admit it’s only your opinion, not fact in any way, shape, or form.
    bb-15jbdragonRayz2016StrangeDaysbrucemcwatto_cobra
Sign In or Register to comment.