ChannelLife NZ – Huawei wins Apple for second place in Q218

Huawei finally managed to bring down Apple by one notch, becoming the world's number two smartphone in Q218, carrying 54 million handsets, up 41% over the previous year.

its latest flagship, the P20, which outpaced sales in the P10 and P9 launch quarter.

Another big reason for Huawei's success is its sub-brand Honor, which accounted for two-thirds of the nearly 16 million leap Huawei made this quarter.

Samsung remained the top seller in Q2, but felt the impact of Huawei and others, slipping 8% to 73 million shipments.

Apple fell to third, carrying 41 million iPhones, just 1% "Huawei's strategy has evolved significantly over the past six months," says Mo Jia, a Shanghai-based Canalys analyst.

"Despite its inability to enter into a partnership with US carriers earlier this year, the company returned quickly, moving away from its drive for profitability and focusing instead on the search for volume growth at the bottom of the scale. Honor, which has long been a major brand in China but relatively small overseas, has played a central role in this strategy. "

The share of Huawei smartphone shipments rose from 24% in the second quarter of 2017 to 36% this quarter.] Huawei shipped nearly 4 million Honor brand smartphones outside of China to T2, representing a growth of 150% of a year on the other, even if it is low

"Honor built and quickly deploys an independent sales force. Huawei's, driving the brand to new markets, and therefore democratizing Huawei's flagship technology. Its focus on an open market strategy has made it particularly powerful in Russia, India and the markets of Western Europe, "Jia adds.

"Huawei's performance, aside from Honor, was also strong. He has shipped 7 million of his latest flagships, the P20 and the P20 Pro. "Huawei has accelerated the adoption of new technologies this year, focusing on AI with its NPU chipsets and on imaging with its triple camera configuration," says Jia.

"Its efforts have paid off, with the P20 and P20 Pro selling faster than their predecessors in their launch quarter, while outside of China, the P20 and P20 Pro have more than doubled P10 shipments and P10 Plus. "

The iPhone sale of 41 million units for Q2 is in its typical range for the second quarter.

"Q2 has always been weak seasonally for Apple," said Ben Stanton, an analyst at Canalys UK. "While the iPhone X has managed to generate volume in previous quarters despite its high price It was not possible to support this volume this quarter, but for an Apple flagship, it's normal.In addition to this, models such as the iPhone 7 and the 7 Plus are also losing momentum, considering a strong first quarter sales, but a slight rise in the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, aided in part by the Product Red campaign, was enough to offset this trend. "

Canalys estimates that Apple shipped more than 8 million iPhone X in the second quarter, compared with 14 million the previous year Stanton

"The importance of Huawei overtaking Apple this Quarter can not be overestimated, "adds Stanton.

"This is the first time in seven years that Samsung and Apple have not occupied the top two positions." Huawei's exclusion from the United States has forced him to work Hardest in Asia and Europe to achieve its goals Huawei's new Honor and Nova sub-brands are expected to boost its growth rate Huawei's momentum will obviously be in Samsung, but it should also serve as a warning signal. to Apple, which must deliver volume to support its growing Services division

"If Apple and Samsung want to maintain their position in the market, they have to make their portfolios more competitive. "