Consumer Electronics

Huawei Tops Apple as World's No. 2 Smartphone

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: July 31, 2018 9:12 pm

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 8:06 pm

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has dropped from its position as the world’s number two smartphone provider, despite earnings that topped expectations and relatively strong iPhone sales. Taking the number two spot in the second quarter was Huawei, a Chinese manufacturer. Samsung, the perennial number one, kept that spot for the quarter.

Apple investors may not care. Its revenue yield per phone is the highest among manufacturers and is rising.

The report from Strategic Analystics, a major research firm said:

… global smartphone shipments fell 3 percent annually to reach 350 million units in Q2 2018. Samsung maintained first position with 20 percent global smartphone marketshare, while Huawei overtook Apple for the first time ever to become the world’s second largest smartphone vendor.

Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments fell 3 percent annually from 360.4 million units in Q2 2017 to 350.4 million in Q2 2018. The global smartphone market has slowed down this year, due to longer replacement rates, diminishing carrier subsidies, and a lack of new hardware design innovation.”

Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics said:

 Samsung shipped 71.5 million smartphones worldwide in Q2 2018, tumbling 10 percent annually from 79.5 million units in Q2 2017. This was Samsung’s worst quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2016. Samsung is being squeezed by Chinese rivals, like Xiaomi and Huawei, across major Asian markets such as China and India. Huawei soared 41 percent annually from 38.4 million smartphones shipped worldwide during Q2 2017 to a record 54.2 million units in Q2 2018. Huawei overtook Apple for the first time ever to become the world’s second largest smartphone vendor. Huawei captured 15 percent global smartphone marketshare in the quarter. Huawei’s midrange Android models, such as Nova 2S and Nova 3e, are proving wildly popular across Asia and Europe.