China’s Huawei aims high with premium smartphone designed to take on Apple, Samsung

Huawei Technologies, which aims to become the world’s second-largest maker of smartphones within two years, pledged to regain its frontrunner position in the mainland market despite falling to third place in the past quarter.

Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, said yesterday the company expected to sell at least 10 million newly launched premium phones, known as Mate 9, a year in China, joining the fray against global giants Apple and Samsung to attract wealthy mainland smartphone users.

“Huawei has landed in a high-priced segment which used to be an untapped territory for us,” Yu told reporters after a launch event. “We hope to eventually beat Apple in terms of customer experience, with better VR technologies, camera, and cloud computing services than theirs.”

He added that as the company competed against global and domestic rivals in various battlegrounds, ranging from low-end products to high-priced ones, it would sooner or later regain the No 1 position on the mainland.

Oppo and Vivo, subsidiaries of privately held BBK Electronics, leapfrogged Huawei to take the top two positions in the mainland’s smartphone market in this year’s third quarter, according to market research firm Counterpoint Technology.

Huawei’s market share of 15 per cent on the mainland remains nearly unchanged from a year ago.

Worldwide, it only trails Apple and Samsung.