Huawei became world’s leading smartphone maker in April 2020, followed by Samsung

While Huawei got 19% market share for a short time period, Samsung was at 17%.

Huawei P40 smartphone. (Huawei)

Huawei had its moment in April 2020 as it became the world's largest smartphone maker, as per Counterpoint VP of research, Neil Shah. Talking to GizmoChina, Shah added that Huawei surpassed its arch rival from South Korea, Samsung, to lead the table during pandemic, something that became tough for brands to achieve. While Huawei got 19% market share for a short time period, Samsung was at 17%.

It is mentioned that a lot of credit for Huawei's success goes to the large China market, which has some loyal customers and others who game preference to local products ever since the US trade ban. Worth adding here is that while the market for other smartphones slumped during the pandemic lockdowns, Chinese economy started to heal by March, giving Huawei the flexibility to expand the business.

However, what's added here is that this achievement by Huawei may be short lived as other smartphone makers are expected to come back on track now that restrictions are lifting up. Samsung's shipments in particular, are expected to lift soon.

In a separate Counterpoint report by analyst Varun Mishra, it was revealed that Apple retained its top spot in the premium smartphone market in Q1 2020. “Apple led the premium segment with a 57% market share, followed by Samsung and Huawei. While most of the brands declined, OPPO grew 67% YoY (from a low base) driven by its Reno 3 and Reno 3 Pro 5G series, and Xiaomi also grew 10% from a small base driven by the Mi 10 5G and Mi Note 10 series,” said Mishra.

This is also for the first time that we have seen Xiaomi entering the premium smartphone market globally.