HUAWEI charts impressive 29% annual growth despite US sanctions

In an interesting change of pace, global smartphone shipments actually grew by 1% in Q3 2019 after two consecutive years of decline according to Canalys’ data. The biggest winner of them all is none other than HUAWEI, the beleaguered Chinese tech giant at the center of the US-China trade wars.

HUAWEI shipped a whopping 66.8 million smartphones in Q3 2019 alone, giving it 19% market share in the period. As compared to the 51.9 million units shipped during the same period last year, this is an amazing 29% increase. It is worth mentioning that most of the devices shipped in Q3 2019 were pre-Entity List models like the HUAWEI P30. The HUAWEI P30 Lite (also known as the HUAWEI nova 4e in Malaysia) made up most of the bulk with close to 3 000 000 units shipped.

Maintaining its position at the top of the stack is Samsung, which shipped 78.9 million in Q3 2019, 11% more than last year. It also increased its market share to 22.4% this year from last year’s 20.4%, reportedly thanks to the popularity of the new Galaxy A series replacing the Galaxy J family, as well as by dropping multiple variants of their flagships to give choice for consumers.

Meanwhile Apple slides in at the third spot, with a 7% decline in shipments compared to Q3 2018. With 43.5 million iPhones shipped and a 12.3% market share, Apple is not doing so hot. The decline is expected to accelerate once the competition starts bringing out their 5G models, with Apple not expected to serve up a 5G smartphone until late 2020.

Overall, according to Canalys, 352.4 million smartphones were shipped in Q3 2019, 1% more than last year’s figure of 348.9 million in Q3 2019.

Pokdepinion: Even the older HUAWEI devices are still very attractive with their class-leading photography chops.