Huawei retains second place on smartphones in Q1: Reuters report

(Reuters) – Chinese telecommunications company Huawei has been named as the world's second largest smartphone provider in the first quarter, before being blacklisted by the US, the research firm said. Gartner.

Gartner also said that Huawei had continued to reduce the gap with Samsung (KS :), but had warned that growth could be limited in the short term.

On May 15, the United States prevented Huawei from buying US goods, claiming that the company was involved in activities contrary to national security. The Trump administration eased its position last week by granting Huawei a license to buy US products until August 19.

Gartner said that Samsung is maintaining its leading position in global smartphone sales, with a 19.2% market share in the first quarter of 2019. Huawei has recorded the strongest growth of a year in the world. another among the top five worldwide – Samsung, Huawei, Apple (NASDAQ 🙂 and Chinese smartphone manufacturers OPPO and Vivo.

Huawei sold 58.4 million smartphones during the quarter, with growth in all regions, the report said.

Global total smartphone sales to end users decreased 2.7% in the quarter, with 373 million units sold

Huawei is particularly well behaved on two of its biggest markets, Europe and Greater China, where its smartphone sales grew by 69% and 33%, respectively. Huawei holds 29.5% of the smartphone market in China.

But the impact of the US action against Huawei should scare buyers. PriceSpy, a product comparison site that attracts an average of 14 million visitors a month, said last week that Huawei handsets were attracting fewer clicks from online shoppers.

"The unavailability of Google apps and services (NASDAQ 🙂 on Huawei smartphones, if implemented, will disrupt Huawei's international smartphone market, which accounts for nearly half of its global phone business", said Anshul Gupta, director of research at Gartner.

"There is no doubt that it is causing apprehension among buyers, limiting Huawei's growth in the short term," he added.

Among the companies that have completely avoided Huawei or have limited their purchases are Google, Softbank ARM, Analog Devices (NASDAQ :), American chip makers Intel Corp (NASDAQ :), Qualcomm (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc, Xilinx Inc (NASDAQ :), Broadcom (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc., Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic Corp. and EE of BT Group.

(This story corrects the title and leads to making the ban come into force after the first quarter)