Huawei Smartphones Lose Second Spot to Apple

Huawei has had a rough time since My 2019 Sanctions by the US Government. The escalation of the sanctions in subsequent times has wreaked havoc on its smartphones business, although the general market declined slightly in 2020.

In the smartphone market, Huawei dropped rankings in 2020, falling behind Apple after losing a massive 22 percent in shipments, according to research firm Canalys.

The firm’s latest report shows Huawei’s market is being eaten away by its Chinese competitors, Xiaomi, which has recently blacklisted in the US (but differently to Huawei and ZTE), Oppo, and Vivo.

Huawei shipped 188.5 million units in 2020 (including those of its then sub-brand Honor), down from 240.8 million units the year prior, a 22 percent decline.

Xiaomi heavily benefited from its misfortunes, shipping 149.6 million units, up 19 percent from the 125.5 million units in 2019.

Thanks to record performance across different business units, Apple, which had a great year in 2020, grew 5 percent annually in smartphone shipments to 207.1 million units.

Although Huawei’s smartphone business showed resilience at the beginning of the ban, the impacts of the US sanctions, and subsequent tightening of those controls, have slowly caught up.

In Q4, the company sales figures plummeted, missing out on the top five rankings for the first time in six years, according to Canalys.

According to an earlier report, with the Honor spin-off, its market share is expected to dwindle further this year.

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