Huawei to overtake Samsung as world’s biggest phonemaker

After surpassing Apple in global smartphone sales, Huawei now has its sights set on besting Samsung to become the world’s No. 1 phone vendor. The Chinese phonemaker raised its forecast for full-year smartphone shipments to more than 200 million and said it could become the world’s top vendor of the devices in the final quarter […]

After surpassing Apple in global smartphone sales, Huawei now has its sights set on besting Samsung to become the world’s No. 1 phone vendor.

The Chinese phonemaker raised its forecast for full-year smartphone shipments to more than 200 million and said it could become the world’s top vendor of the devices in the final quarter of next year. 

It comes just days after Huawei overtook Apple as the second largest smartphone maker in the world. 

Now, the company expects full-year shipments to beat an initial target of 180 million after it shipped more than 95 million smartphones in the first half, said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group.  

‘‘I think it’s no problem that we become the global No.2 next year; in Q4 next year, it’s possible we become No.1,’’ Yu said during a media briefing on Friday.     

He attributed the growth to strong sales in Europe and China, bolstered by premium products such as the p20 series, of which it has sold more than 9 million units since its launch four months ago.

The Chinese market is key for Huawei as it has come under fire in the US, Australia and other nations over concerns it could facilitate Chinese government spying. 

Huawei continues to deny these claims and has tried to strike deals with US carriers like AT&T. 

It was close to reaching a deal with AT&T earlier this year, but the carrier later abandoned talks at the last minute, according to the Wall Street Journal.   

Yu said there was nothing the company could do about being virtually shut out of the United States market with no major carriers there selling its smartphones.

But strong growth in some other markets has offset that. Huawei’s consumer business group, which includes the smartphones operations, saw 73 percent revenue growth in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region in the first half.