Propelled by an $11.8 billion revenue in 2014 with over 75 million units shipped, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei is slowly cementing its foothold as the world’s third largest smartphone maker, next only to Apple and Samsung.
Huawei’s $11.8 billion bottomline last year was a remarkable 33% improvement from its sales figures in 2013 while the more than 75 million units it shipped in 2014 was a 40% increase from the previous year’s shipment figures, according to Big News Network.
Huawei forms part of the triumvirate of Chinese smartphone manufacturers that are giving Apple and Samsung some serious run for their money in the global mobile phone market; the other two being Lenovo and Xiaomi.
Unlike the other traditional companies from China, these three modern Chinese manufacturers are all forward-looking, fast-growing, and have their eyes on constant expansion. They are very aggressive, something which Apple has done so in the past to turn the tables on Blackberry in the US market and Nokia in the global retail scene.
Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer business, says that other than its home market in China, the company is also recording remarkable smartphone sales improvements in the Middle East, northern Latin America, and Southeast Asia, reports GSM Arena.
Intense competition from home
Huawei however is facing serious competition from fellow Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi in vying for the world’s third leading smartphone manufacturer.
Apparently, Xiaomi held that particular title during the third quarter of 2014 for registering the highest smartphone sales in China and worldwide during the period.
It was just actually a blip on the 2014 record of Huawei since the company owned the sales figures for the first, second, and fourth quarters of 2014 as the world’s third largest handset maker.
Still, Huawei should not be overlooking the headway that Xiaomi has been making over the past couple of months. Apart from that third quarter sales surprise, Xiaomi has also increased its overall smartphone sales target for 2014 by more than 300%. From selling 18.7 million units in 2013, Xiaomi actually targeted selling 60 million handsets in 2014.
While the company has yet to make an official statement on whether it has achieved its 2014 unit sales target, it is likely that Xiaomi did, given its remarkable performance during the third quarter. The Holidays was the highlight of the fourth quarter and practically all smartphone manufacturers the world over are enjoying brisk sales during that period.
Putting the 60 million projected unit sales target of Xiaomi for 2014, Huawei is still obviously ahead by more than 15 million units. But obviously, that is nowhere near being a comfortable lead. It can be overtaken in a flash for sure so Huawei needs to remain aggressive with its global sales strategies.