HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies overtook Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to become the world’s second-biggest smartphone seller in the June quarter, data from market research firms showed, as it gained ground in Europe and expanded its lead back home.
The estimated rise in market share comes as a slowdown in the world’s biggest smartphone market, China, eased. Huawei has also managed to get ahead of rivals by selling more feature-packed phones, analysts said.
“Huawei is shifting to more value-added models, by launching new flagship smartphones with the latest features. Huawei’s P20 Pro is the first flagship smartphone model to be equipped with triple cameras, beating competitors to market,” IHS Markit analyst Gerrit Schneemann said in a note.
Huawei on Tuesday said overall it had raked in 15 percent higher revenue in the first six months of 2018, steady at levels seen a year ago.
According to IHS and Strategy Analytics, Huawei grabbed more than 15 percent of the global smartphone market over April-June, overtaking Apple’s roughly 12 percent and just behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s (005930.KS) nearly 20 percent share.
