Huawei surpasses Apple as the world's # 2 smartphone provider

According to new data from market research companies IDC, Canalys and IHS Markit, Huawei outperformed Apple in terms of units shipped for the second quarter of 2018. Huawei ranks now in second place among the world's best smartphone sellers, knocking Apple to the third for the first time in seven years.

IDC and IHS estimate that the Chinese company sold 54.2 million units during the period, while Canalys estimates the number at 54 million. Huawei 's growth, which ranges from 41% to 44% over the year, gives the smartphone maker a market share of 15.7% in the global market. This compares to the 12.1% market of Apple cited by IDC.

Apple announced Tuesday its best quarter ever with record sales of $ 53.3 billion thanks to 41.3 million iPhone sales. Although iPhone sales have only increased by 1%, terminal sales have climbed 20% year-over-year thanks to a stronger combination of high-end phones like the iPhone X It was the most expensive phone of Apple. average selling price at $ 724, up from $ 606 a year ago.

Yet, as is often the case with cheap consumer electronics, Huawei has managed to outperform Apple in terms of pure quantity.

"Huawei's continued growth is impressive to say the least, as is its ability to move to markets where, until recently, the brand was largely unknown," said Ryan Reith, vice president. of the program at IDC Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "It should be noted that Apple has taken the lead in each of the last two quarters after updating its product, so it is likely that we will see continued movements among the top ranked companies in 2018 and beyond. High-end competition (over $ 700) is largely a combination of Apple, Samsung and Huawei, depending on the region, and it is unlikely to change much in the short term.

Samsung led the pack with 71.5 million smartphone shipments to take 20.9% of the market, a contraction of 10.4% from one year to the next, a declared IDC. Canalys found slightly higher figures for the South Korean automaker with 73 million units shipped, while IHS estimates place Samsung's performance at 70.8 million phones.

Following Apple was Xiaomi and Oppo, with a respective 31.9 million and 29.4 million units shipped for the quarter, according to IDC. Xiaomi's growth represents a 48.8% change over the same period last year, while Oppo posted gains of 5.1%.

IDC found a contraction of 1.8% in the smartphone market by the end of the year. from a broader slowdown.

At an investor teleconference Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the fluctuations of the smartphone market were at odds with the true health of the segment. When asked to comment on recent figures, Cook said he believed the smartphone market was "very healthy."

"I think it's actually the cheapest in the world for someone who works in the industry. "Cook said." It's a huge market and it's growing, from our point of view, that it's growing by 1 or 2%, 5 or 6%, or 10%, or that it goes down by 1 or 2%, it's a great market because it's huge. "