Huawei again estimated to have overtaken Apple as world's No. 2 smartphone vendor

AppleInsider

New market research further solidifies previous estimates that Apple has ceded its spot as the world's second-largest smartphone vendor to Chinese upstart Huawei, at least for now.

According to the latest numbers from Gartner, Huawei ended the second quarter of 2018 with 49.8 million devices sold, good enough for a 13.3 percent share of the global smartphone market, reports TechCrunch. Huawei's numbers are up from the year-ago quarter, which saw the firm ship about 36 million units for a 9.8 percent marketshare.

The performance lands the Chinese smartphone maker ahead of Apple, which sold 41.3 million iPhones during the same period of 2018. Gartner places Apple's marketshare at 11.9 percent, a dip from 12.1 percent recorded during the same time last year.

"Huawei continues to bring innovative features into its smartphones and expand its smartphone portfolio to cover larger consumer segments," said Gartner research director Anshul Gupta. "Its investment into channels, brand building and positioning of the Honor devices helped drive sales. Huawei is shipping its Honor smartphones into 70 markets worldwide and is emerging as Huawei's key growth driver."

Samsung topped the chart with 72.3 million smartphones shipped in quarter two, but also saw a decline in year-over-year performance. The Korean tech giant's marketshare dipped from 22.6 percent in 2017 to 19.3 percent during the most recent quarter.

Two more Chinese brands, Xiaomi and Oppo, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Xiaomi, a blatant Apple ripoff artist, shipped 32.8 million units for an 8.8 percent marketshare, while Oppo managed 28.5 million shipments for a 7.6 percent slice of the pie.

Gartner's figures align with findings from market research firms IDC, Canalys and IHS Markit, all of which saw Huawei outperform Apple in the second quarter. Previous estimates were less conservative, putting Huawei's shipments closer to 54 million units for the three-month period.

Gupta warned of soft iPhone X demand, an oft-repeated analyst worry that Apple has continuously refuted.

"Demand for the iPhone X has started to slow down much earlier than when other new models were introduced," Gupta said.

Apple last month reported its best June quarter ever, recording $53.3 billion in revenue on the back of largely flat iPhone sales. Despite slowing sales, Apple's iPhone revenue surged 20 percent year-over-year on a stronger mix of premium priced handsets like iPhone X. Indeed, 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.

The top-five vendor list is likely to reshuffle at the end of the year. Apple is widely expected to release a trio of new iPhones in September that will undoubtedly result in a sales spike during the last calendar quarter. The company is anticipated to launch two high-end OLED models and a mid-tier LCD version that could be priced between $600 and $700.

dipdog3

Better question is what percentage of those phones make a profit?

claire1

The android slaves are having a party with this news waving their $20 knockoffs in the air.

retired4good

How many were sold in the western world?

metrix

There is overwhelming evidence that Huawei phones are being used by the Chinese to spy on Americans according to US senator Tom Cotton. 

saltyzip

metrix said:

There is overwhelming evidence that Huawei phones are being used by the Chinese to spy on Americans according to US senator Tom Cotton. 

Based on what evidence, reminds me of Iraq and WMD?

How come Europe hasn't banned them or even hinted at banning them, surely the security risk would have been shared?

This is all about politics, USA doesn't want any big brand Chinese firms in the U.S. market, it's all down to protectionism in my opinion.

nunzy

The only thing that matters is that Apple makes more profit. They can go kick rocks as far as I am concerned.

Maybe if their Market cap was a trillion dollars like Apple's is. Then people would like their phones.

claire1

metrix said:

There is overwhelming evidence that Huawei phones are being used by the Chinese to spy on Americans according to US senator Tom Cotton. 

Android slaves don't care about privacy.

Ciprol

saltyzip said:

metrix said:

There is overwhelming evidence that Huawei phones are being used by the Chinese to spy on Americans according to US senator Tom Cotton. 

Based on what evidence, reminds me of Iraq and WMD?

How come Europe hasn't banned them or even hinted at banning them, surely the security risk would have been shared?

This is all about politics, USA doesn't want any big brand Chinese firms in the U.S. market, it's all down to protectionism in my opinion.

Actually, partly politics, mostly economic supremacy. With the looming rollout of mobile 5G network and services, US is fighting tooth and nail to restrict China's ascendency in this field and overtake US's dominance. Blocking Chinese firms in the US and forcing allies (Australia and Japan) to do the same. It's so damn obvious. Whilst protecting one's own industry is fine, but the way the US is doing it is devious. If there's anyone want to talk about IT spying, let's start with the CIA and NSA for the last half a decade and more.

claire1

Ciprol said:

saltyzip said:

metrix said:

There is overwhelming evidence that Huawei phones are being used by the Chinese to spy on Americans according to US senator Tom Cotton. 

Based on what evidence, reminds me of Iraq and WMD?

How come Europe hasn't banned them or even hinted at banning them, surely the security risk would have been shared?

This is all about politics, USA doesn't want any big brand Chinese firms in the U.S. market, it's all down to protectionism in my opinion.

Actually, partly politics, mostly economic supremacy. With the looming rollout of mobile 5G network and services, US is fighting tooth and nail to restrict China's ascendency in this field and overtake US's dominance. Blocking Chinese firms in the US and forcing allies (Australia and Japan) to do the same. It's so damn obvious. Whilst protecting one's own industry is fine, but the way the US is doing it is devious. If there's anyone want to talk about IT spying, let's start with the CIA and NSA for the last half a decade and more.

Apple invented the iPhone. The whole damn industry owes Apple. No matter how the iKnockoff slaves try to justify stealing.

"If there's anyone want to talk about IT spying, let's start with the CIA and NSA for the last half a decade and more."

Or android. They built the entire platform to make knockoff iPhones with spying features.

SpamSandwich

“Overtaken”... LOL!

canukstorm

metrix said:

There is overwhelming evidence that Huawei phones are being used by the Chinese to spy on Americans according to US senator Tom Cotton. 

Everybody is spying everyone.

racerhomie3

saltyzip said:

metrix said:

There is overwhelming evidence that Huawei phones are being used by the Chinese to spy on Americans according to US senator Tom Cotton. 

Based on what evidence, reminds me of Iraq and WMD?

How come Europe hasn't banned them or even hinted at banning them, surely the security risk would have been shared?

This is all about politics, USA doesn't want any big brand Chinese firms in the U.S. market, it's all down to protectionism in my opinion.

America needs Protectionism from India, China & Europe.
India puts 40% taxes on Electronics. The y deserve nothing but rotting Chinese garbage.

sree

While these articles are excessive nonsense, I do think apple is facing some feature saturation in the smartphone market. Newer features aren't generating the same amount of desire, and a large section of people (not all) are starting to feel they don't need the latest and greatest.

While once these chinese knockoffs were under-performing junk phones that frustrated users, they are now pretty good for most people who don't need the latest and greatest phones. The gap has narrowed significantly on the capabilities, but the price divide has remained. I think Apple is facing some real risk here.

[P.S.: Just my experiences based on the fact that I have been using apple stuff for the last decade, and my wife has been using androids for almost as long.]

Kuyangkoh

Yaiks, vertical camera and a notch, so make phone looks like Apple and sell at cost to claims they shipped more than Apple....here comes
the ripper

bestkeptsecret

 

Amazing company. Rips off the iPhone's look and Nokia's welcome screen.

fallenjt

By shipping junks! Yes.

fallenjt

saltyzip said:

metrix said:

There is overwhelming evidence that Huawei phones are being used by the Chinese to spy on Americans according to US senator Tom Cotton. 

Based on what evidence, reminds me of Iraq and WMD?

How come Europe hasn't banned them or even hinted at banning them, surely the security risk would have been shared?

This is all about politics, USA doesn't want any big brand Chinese firms in the U.S. market, it's all down to protectionism in my opinion.

EU is a joke. They can’t make phones so their cheap ass people rather buy copycat China brands which are backed by their own government in term of subsidies!

avon b7

dipdog3 said:

Better question is what percentage of those phones make a profit?

That is not a better question but Huawei makes a lot of profit. Billions.

Apple sold a little over 40 million iPhones last quarter. How many of those purchasers cared in the slightest how much profit the phone was making?

Hey, if that was broken down on the price tag, I'm sure many would reconsider the purchase.

High or highest profits are not the concern of the consumer. No Apple user would see a discounted iPhone and insist on paying the full retail price.

Investors care about profits.

Consumers care about the product and if their budgets can allow the purchase. More often than not with the best bang for buck.

FWIW, Huawei also usually invests more in R&D than Apple and licences a huge amount of patents to Apple too.

sammysamsam

Not everyone wants a $1000 phone, in fact the majority want affordable phones, which is why we see Apple been left behind in sales.  Outside the US the iPhone is a niche product.  Soon we will see Xiaomi and Oppo overtake Apple in worldwide sales.

sflocal

avon b7 said:

Consumers care about the product and if their budgets can allow the purchase. More often than not with the best bang for buck.

FWIW, Huawei also usually invests more in R&D than Apple and licences a huge amount of patents to Apple too.

nonsense.  Most Android users care about one thing only.  Price.  What phone can I get for $40.  Period.  You may sugarcoat it and say "best bang for the buck", but we know everything at that price point (i.e. bottom-of-barrel) is basically junk.

I haven't bothered to compare Apple's and Huawei's R&D budgets, but I do know that Huawei's must be up there to come out with so many variations and knockoffs, where Apple just has to deal with a tiny number of iPhone models.  Big difference.  Again, you're sugarcoating it.