New | Huawei on track to be world's fastest growing smartphone vendor in 2015
Third quarter numbers see No 3 vendor on track to ship 100m phones in 2015, up 33pc from 2014
China's Huawei Technologies is set to be the fastest-growing major smartphone vendor this year, analysts said, boosting its drive upmarket to challenge industry giants Samsung Electronics and Apple.
The upbeat view came after Huawei, the world's third-biggest smartphone supplier by volume,on Tuesday said third-quarter global smartphone shipments jumped 63 per cent year on year to 27.4 million handsets. Higher-end device sales also grew, a key target for Huawei as it seeks to shed its budget supplier image.
The July-September numbers puts Huawei on course to move 100 million smartphones this year, 33 per cent more than in 2014. That would see it outpacing growth forecasts for major rivals such as Apple, Xiaomi and Lenovo Group, analysts said.
"It's hard to find a solid contender to Huawei for the top three position [after Samsung and Apple] in the short term," said Nicole Peng, Asia Pacific director at research firm Canalys. "That's impressive growth."
Huawei remains a distant third, with a smartphone market share worth US$7 billion in the second quarter, about one-fifth of those of Apple and Samsung, according to Canalys.
Still, analysts said Huawei's branding shift to higher-margin premium models, as well as strong relations with telecom carriers at home and abroad, are now helping it cement its position in the global top three. Previously, smaller players often swapped that rank in price wars.
Third-quarter deliveries climbed 81 per cent and 98 per cent in China and Europe respectively from a year ago. About a third of the quarterly shipments were mid- to high-end models, Huawei said, up from 25 per cent a year earlier.
Huawei doubled its China smartphone revenue in the first half of this year, defying a slowdown in the world's biggest handset market that is enveloping rivals Xiaomi and Samsung.
Despite the strong growth in both Europe and China, analysts said Huawei still needs to win over consumers in the US - where its market penetration remains low - if it is to become a serious rival to Samsung and Apple as a truly global smartphone brand.
The company declined to say how many smartphones it has sold in the US.
