Huawei's global smartphone market share 2012-2020

Huawei's share of the global smartphone market dropped significantly from the third quarter of 2020 to the fourth, falling from 14.7 percent to 8.4 percent. Huawei's market share for the first quarter of 2021 is not available, as the company fell outside the leading five smartphone vendors overall.

   

Huawei took top spot for the first time in 2020

    Although the fourth quarter of 2020 was weaker, the second quarter marked the first time that Huawei emerged as the market leader in terms of total smartphones shipped, with the Chinese smartphone producer accounting for 20 percent of the market. To achieve the feat, Huawei shipped 55.8 million devices, ahead of Samsung who shipped 54.2 million smartphones, and Apple, who shipped 37.6 million smartphones.

   

Samsung suffered initially under pressure from COVID-19

  While Huawei were initially boosted by their ability to cope with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Samsung suffered more than any other major smartphone producer during the first phases of the pandemic. Samsung shipped 54.2 million devices in the second quarter of 2020, far fewer than the 75.5 million smartphones the Korean company shipped in the second quarter of 2019. Apple also shipped fewer smartphones in the second quarter of 2020 than they did in the fourth quarter of 2019, however, this is in keeping with a typical Apple shipment cycle.