With the success of its new smartphone Mate 60, the Huawei Group is taking market share from Apple’s iPhone, among others. According to calculations by the analysis firm Counterpoint Research, Huawei sold 64 percent more smartphones in the first six weeks of this year than in the same period last year. iPhone sales, on the other hand, were 24 percent lower.
The Mate 60, released last year, was celebrated in China as a triumph for the company against US sanctions. The restrictions cut Huawei off from modern chip technologies, among other things. Nevertheless, the phone works in fast 5G wireless networks – and also sparked politically motivated buying interest among patriotic-minded Chinese. Instead of Google’s Android system, the Mate 60 runs Huawei’s own Harmony OS.
Huawei’s other competitors are also selling less
Huawei’s Chinese competitors also sold fewer devices in the first few weeks of the year than a year earlier. Oppo’s sales fell by 29 percent and Xiaomi’s by 7 percent, as Counterpoint reported on Tuesday. Vivo remained the market leader despite a 15 percent drop in sales.
However, Huawei moved close to the leader after the sales surge. According to Counterpoint figures, Vivo had 18 percent market share and Huawei 17 percent. Apple and the former Huawei brand Honor followed with 16 percent market share each, ahead of Xiaomi with 14 percent and Oppo with 13 percent.
Apple is the only Western manufacturer that is strong in the Chinese smartphone market. In the last quarter, the group generated a good 17 percent of its total business in the China region.
