With market intelligence firm IDC noting the worldwide smartphone sector growing at a staggering 38.8% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2013, new research also indicates that Huawei—a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider—has largely outperformed competitors in the market to become the world’s third largest smartphone brand.
The findings are confirmed in the latest reports from IDC as well as research firm Strategy Analytics which both indicate that Huawei held the third largest market share in the global smartphone arena based on unit shipments, racing ahead of major competitors like LG and Lenovo.
According to Strategy Analytics, Huawei shipped 12.7 million smartphones in the third quarter while IDC found that Huawei shipped 12.5 million smartphones. While Huawei continued to rely for the bulk of its shipments on Asia Pacific, strong headway into Europe, the Middle East and Africa has also added considerably to its shipment volumes.
Huawei has achieved ambitious growth of its consumer device brand over recent years, introducing several world-firsts into the premium smartphone sector while also ramping up its offerings in the entry-level and mid-range segments.
The brand’s popular Ascend P6 and Ascend G610 models were seen as the key drivers of Huawei’s most recent success, according to Strategy Analytics. Analysts at Strategy Analytics called Huawei “a star performer” in the smartphone market in the third quarter as global shipments grew 67% year-on-year from 7.6 million in the third quarter of 2012.
“With a commitment to product innovation and a customer-centric brand approach, consumers across the globe and in the Middle East in particular have seen the unique value that we are able to deliver in enriching life through communication,” says Mr. Jiao Jian, President of Huawei Device Middle East. “Through deeper cooperation with local retailers, telecom operators, and direct engagement with the public at large, it will be very important for us to continue giving the public more and more opportunities to experience Huawei technology first hand.”
Beyond the top two positions in the global smartphone sector, the competition has become tightly contested with less than a million units separating many of the other leading brands. The popularity of Android is being seen as a common driver for the success of these companies, although analysts believe they are now faced with the challenge of differentiation across this platform to stay ahead in the race.
With multiple vendors launching flagship models and with the robust growth in Q3, IDC predicts strong momentum in the worldwide smartphone market going into the fourth quarter as the market is poised to reach one billion units for the year.
Over the course of 2013 Huawei has unveiled close to 10 different smartphone models including three world firsts—the Ascend P6, the world’s slimmest smartphone, the Ascend Mate, the world’s largest smartphone, and the Ascend P2, the world’s fastest smartphone. Huawei’s balance of value models for the mass market and its premium “Ascend” product line, coupled with its unique software and hardware offerings, has helped position Huawei smartphones series ahead of competitors.
In the Middle East Huawei has also made significant strides over the last year by forging strategic alliances with leading telecom operators and distribution partners in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman, underscoring the company’s drive to increasing its overall visibility in the consumer space.
Huawei’s global rise in the consumer electronics industry has been supported by longstanding strengths in ICT research & development. Huawei annually invests an average of more than 10% of its total revenue into R&D with the company maintaining a total of 16 R&D centers and 28 joint innovation centers worldwide.
The company has been active in the Middle East for over a decade with ten regional offices that today include over 3,800 employees responsible for more than $2 billion in annual revenues last year alone.
