Huawei’s H1 global smartphone shipments jump 25% as sector consolidates

Huawei Technologies Co, the world’s third- largest smartphone vendor, said on Tuesday first- half global smartphone shipments jumped 25 percent, helped by rapid growth in traditionally high- end markets such as Europe.

Shenzhen- based Huawei, which competes with Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc, shipped 60.5 million smartphones globally in the first half.

Huawei’s consumer business group, which includes its smartphone division, booked global revenue of 77.4 billion yuan ($ 11.6 billion) for the first six months, up 41 percent from 2015.

Huawei aims to surpass Samsung and Apple within five years to become the world’s top smartphone vendor.

Industry watchers, however, are less optimistic. They said Huawei is facing stiffer competition from domestic rivals such as Xiaomi Inc and Lenovo Group as cost- conscious consumers seek alternatives in an increasingly saturated global market.

Huawei’s head of consumer business Richard Yu is bullish about the long- term prospects.

“There are only three major smart- phone vendors in the world: Apple, Samsung and Huawei. It’s consolidating ... other vendors will die in the next three to five years,” he told a news conference.

Research firm TrendForce last week cut its estimate for Huawei’s annual smartphone shipments by 8.5 percent to 119 million units, citing worse- than- expected sales of Huawei’s flagship phone.

“The sales of Huawei’s flagship P9, which features a dual camera, may fall short of expectations as other Chinese brands release competitive products,” said TrendForce analyst Avril Wu.

Huawei held 9 percent of the global smartphone market in the second quarter of this year, a distant third behind Samsung’s 24.5 percent and Apple’s 15 percent, according to TrendForce.

Huawei reported on Monday that its first- half sales revenue reached 245.5 billion yuan, an increase of 40 percent year- on- year.

Also, its operating margin in the first half of this year narrowed to 12 percent from 18 percent in the same period in 2015.