Huawei's smartphone shipments jump

HONG KONG: China´s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world´s third-largest smartphone vendor, said first-half global smartphone shipments jumped 25 percent, helped by rapid growth in traditionally high-end markets such as Europe.

Shenzhen-based Huawei, which competes with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc, shipped 60.5 million smartphones globally in the first half.

Huawei´s consumer business group, which includes its smartphone division, booked global revenue of 77.4 billion yuan ($11.6 billion) for the first six months, up 41 percent from last year.

Huawei aims to surpass market leaders Samsung and Apple within five years to become the world´s top smartphone vendor.

Industry watchers, however, are less optimistic.

They said Huawei is facing stiffer competition from domestic rivals such as Xiaomi Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd as cost-conscious consumers are looking for alternatives with similar features in an increasingly saturated global market.

Huawei´s head of consumer business Richard Yu was, however, bullish about the firm´s long-term prospects.

"There are only three major smartphone vendors in the world - Apple, Samsung and Huawei.

It´s consolidating other vendors will die in the next three to five years," he told a news conference.

Research firm TrendForce last week cut its estimate for Huawei´s annual smartphone shipments by 8.5 percent to 119 million units, citing worse-than-expected sales of Huawei´s flagship phone.

"The sales of Huawei´s flagship P9, which features a dual camera, may fall short of expectations as other Chinese brands release competitive products," said TrendForce analyst Avril Wu.

Huawei held 9 percent of the global smartphone market in the second quarter of this year, a distant third behind Samsung´s 24.5 percent and Apple´s 15 percent, according to TrendForce.