Huawei just overtook Apple as the second-largest smartphone seller

By Christian de Looper Published August 1, 2018

Huawei is moving up in the world. According to a new report from Counterpoint Research, the company has surpassed Apple to become the second-largest smartphone brand in the world in terms of units sold, after having shipped more phones than Apple during the second quarter of 2018. The report notes that Huawei was able to achieve the feat on the strength of its excellent premium phones, as well as a slew of midrange and budget devices, including those in the Honor sub-brand.

It’s pretty huge news, not just for Huawei, but for the smartphone industry as a whole. For the past seven years, the top two spots have been dominated by Apple and Samsung. Samsung is still at the top of the food chain, after having captured a whopping 20 percent of smartphone shipments.

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Of course, it’s likely the rankings will change a bit over the next year. The second quarter or the year is one of the slowest for Apple, which is about to head into another upgrade cycle. This will almost certainly put Apple back in the second position, even if only for a quarter or two. On top of that, considering Huawei’s growth, it’s possible Huawei could eventually take out Samsung too — though we expect it to be a while before that happens.

In total, Huawei captured 15 percent of smartphone shipments, while Apple came in third with 11 percent. Xiaomi finished fourth with 9 percent, Oppo was fifth with 8 percent, and Vivo sixth with 7 percent. Also interesting is the fact that HMD Global was the fastest-growing brand compared to the same quarter last year. While in the second quarter of 2017, the company only shipped around 500,000 smartphones, in the second quarter of 2018, it shipped 4.5 million, with Counterpoint estimating a massive 782 percent growth. OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Huawei all also exhibited fast growth, though none anywhere near as fast as HMD Global.

The average selling price of a smartphone also shifted quite a bit. While Samsung’s average selling price largely remained the same, Apple’s grew by 20 percent, thanks largely to the fact that the iPhone X is more expensive than any iPhone before it. Huawei’s average selling price also grew, up by 28 percent, as did Xiaomi’s, which jumped 14 percent. It’s likely that trend will continue as we head into an era of ultra-premium smartphones.

Christian de Looper

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…

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