Huawei Takes Samsung's Crown as Top Smartphone Seller, Canalys Data Show

   By Yifan Wang

Huawei Technologies Co. became the world's top smartphone seller for the first time ever in the second quarter, shipping more handsets than any other rival, data from market researcher Canalys shows.

That marks the first quarter in nine years that a vendor other than Samsung Electronics Co. or Apple Inc. has been No. 1 in the global smartphone market.

The Chinese telecom giant shipped 55.8 million devices in the April-to-June quarter, down 5% from a year earlier.

Samsung took second place after the South Korean company's shipments fell 30% to 53.7 million handsets as core markets such as Brazil and India were hit hard by the pandemic.

Huawei's success was largely due to China's economy starting to recover from the coronavirus before those of other countries.

"If it wasn't for Covid-19, it wouldn't have happened," Canalys analyst Ben Stanton said of the result.

Huawei captured its highest-ever share of the Chinese market in the past quarter with 46% of the total sales volume, according to industry research firm Counterpoint Research.

However, Huawei's global dominance may be short-lived.

"Strength in China alone will not be enough to sustain Huawei at the top once the global economy starts to recover," Canalys analyst Mo Jia said.

Write to Yifan Wang at yifan.wang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2020 00:05 ET (04:05 GMT)

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