Huawei Ships 60.5 Million Smartphones In First Half of 2016

Huawei is coming for Samsung with 60.5 million phones shipped in 2016 so far

Huawei continues its upward trajectory, thanks to a 25-percent jump in smartphone shipments during the first half of 2016 as compared to last year. Where’s that growth coming from? Europe, according to Reuters.

Huawei shipped 60.5 million smartphones in the first half of the year, and the Chinese company says its overall global revenue is $11.6 billion in that same time frame — that’s a whopping 41 percent increase from last year. The jump is reportedly due to strong sales of flagship smartphones like the Huawei P9, which we gave a very positive review.

The company is the third-largest smartphone vendor in the world, and it lags behind the likes of Samsung and Apple. Huawei held 9 percent of the global smartphone market in the second quarter of 2016, behind Apple’s 15 percent and Samsung’s 24.5 percent.

“We saw particularly fast growth in traditionally high-end smartphone markets such as Europe and emerging markets including North Africa, Central Asia and Latin America,” Richard Yu, Huawei’s consumer business chief, told Reuters.

The Chinese telecommunications giant is hoping to surpass its American and South Korean rivals within five years. It already believes other vendors, such as Xiaomi and Oppo, will consolidate and die within the next three to five years. But Huawei is reportedly facing stiff competition from these manufacturers in its home country — Companies like Xiaomi offer similar products at appealing lower prices.

Huawei launched its flagship smartphone, the P9, earlier this year and it has been well-received, in part due to its stellar camera. The company did get some flak for passing off a photograph shot with a DSLR as one taken with the smartphone, but Huawei immediately apologized. Huawei also recently sued Samsung for patent infringements, but Samsung counter-sued.

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