Breaking: Huawei becomes the world’s largest smartphone maker in Q2 2020, surpassed Samsung

Huawei, for the first time, surpassed the South Korean smartphone maker – Samsung for an entire quarter amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reveals a report from Canalys.

According to the report, Huawei shipped 55.8 million devices, declining by 5% year on year in Q2 2020. Samsung, on the other hand, comes in second place by shipping 53.7 million phones, a sharp 30% fall compared to the same quarter last year.

Huawei is still under US restrictions but its home market share is surging rapidly over the past quarters amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is a remarkable result that few people would have predicted a year ago,” said Canalys Senior Analyst Ben Stanton.

“If it wasn’t for COVID-19, it wouldn’t have happened. Huawei has taken full advantage of the Chinese economic recovery to reignite its smartphone business. Samsung has a very small presence in China, with less than 1% market share, and has seen its core markets, such as Brazil, India, the United States, and Europe, ravaged by outbreaks and subsequent lockdowns.”

According to a recent report from Counterpoint Research, Huawei in the second quarter held its highest ever 46% of the total share in Chinese smartphone market with 14% Yearly growth.

On the other hand, Huawei claimed a 60% share of the total 5G smartphone market in China, which is a massive result of its home-market product strategy.

“Taking first place is very important for Huawei,” said Canalys Analyst Mo Jia.

“It is desperate to showcase its brand strength to domestic consumers, component suppliers, and developers. It needs to convince them to invest and will broadcast the message of its success far and wide in the coming months. But it will be hard for Huawei to maintain its lead in the long term. Its major channel partners in key regions, such as Europe, are increasingly wary of ranging Huawei devices, taking on fewer models, and bringing in new brands to reduce risk. Strength in China alone will not be enough to sustain Huawei at the top once the global economy starts to recover.” Jia added.