According to International Data Corp., Chinese handset maker Huawei could be poised to overtake Apple in the smartphone market this year or next.
In the second quarter of this year, Huawei’s market share was around 11.3 percent with shipments of 38.5 million, compared to Apple’s 12 percent market share with 41 million shipments.
“They will probably overtake Apple in the smartphone business, either this year or next year,” IDC research director for European mobile devices Francisco Jeronimo told CNBC. “This is a huge challenge for Samsung because Huawei aims to become number one.”
As we’ve noted plenty of times before, of course, market share has rarely been Apple’s chief motivator. Although having a certain critical mass of customers is important, far more important is making profit from those customers — rather than trying to sell as many handsets as possible, regardless of what margins you achieve.
Huawei is taking a page out of Apple’s playback in his regard, however. Despite previously being a maker of low-cost handsets, Huawei now focuses on introducing new high-end devices like the $700 P10 and the Mate 10, which will directly compete with the iPhone X.
Whether this will be enough to steal away profits remains to be seen. According to data from market research firm Strategy Analytics, last year Apple and Samsung collectively took home a massive 94 percent of profits in the smartphone market. Things are likely to be especially tight in the next year, as Apple’s eagerly anticipated iPhone X hits the market.
Do you think Huawei can hope to compete in this area? Leave your comments below.
Source: CNBC
