Huawei tightens grip on China smartphones

Huawei tightens grip on China smartphones with record 42% share in third quarter: Canalys
        
            
Reuters
1 hour 48 minutes ago
        
    
            
                
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                            FILE PHOTO: A Huawei company logo is pictured at the Shenzhen International Airport in Shenzhen

                        

                    
SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - Huawei Technologies lifted its share of 
China's smartphone market to a record 42%, with third-quarter shipments 
rising by two-thirds as domestic consumers rallied behind it after U.S. 
sanctions, data released on Wednesday showed.
Huawei strengthened its dominance of the world's biggest smartphone 
market even as the Chinese company was all but banned by the United 
States in May from doing business with American companies, significantly
 disrupting its ability to source key parts.
The world's No. 2 maker of smartphones was granted a reprieve until 
November. Nevertheless, promotions and patriotic purchases have driven 
Huawei's smartphone sales in China, helping it more than offset a 
shipments slump in the global market.
While the Chinese smartphone market still contracted by 3% in the 
third quarter compared to a year earlier, Huawei smartphones made up 
41.5 million of the 97.8 million shipped in the period, according to 
data from market research firm Canalys.
"Huawei opened a huge gap between itself and other vendors," said 
Nicole Peng, Canalys vice president of mobility. "Its dominant position 
gives Huawei a lot of power to negotiate with the supply chain and to 
increase its wallet share within channel partners." 
Huawei's growth came at the expense of main rivals Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi <1810.HK> and Apple , which together accounted for 50% of the market in the third quarter, down from 64% a year earlier.
The third quarter sales also mark Apple's weakest quarter in China for five years, said Peng.
However, she added that Apple received a boost from the launch of the
 iPhone 11 in September, with customers willing to wait two to three 
weeks to receive shipments of the newer models.
Huawei said last week it had sold more than 200 million phones globally in 2019, 64 days earlier than in 2018.
The company's profits remain resilient despite pressure from the United States, with revenue jumping 27% in the third quarter.
Its flagship Mate 30 Pro 4G version, which Huawei unveiled in 
September, was not a big factor in its Q3 success, Canalys said, with 
most people waiting for the 5G version to launch later this year.
"Huawei is in a strong position to consolidate its dominance further 
amid 5G network rollout, given its tight operator relationships in 5G 
network deployment, and control over key components such as local 
network compatible 5G chipsets compared with local peers," said Canalys'
 Peng.
"This puts significant pressure on Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi, which find it very hard to make any breakthrough."
 (Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)