Smartphones: Huawei loses its crown as the world’s largest manufacturer

Chinese Huawei lost its title as the world’s leading seller of smartphones in the third quarter, while compatriot Xiaomi arrived on the third step of the podium, according to the Canalys research office.

Affected by US sanctions, Huawei sold in the third quarter 51.7 million phones (-23% over one year).

At the same time, its South Korean rival Samsung sold 80.2 million devices (+ 2% over one year) and was again the world’s largest manufacturer, according to the Canalys study published on Thursday.

Huawei is in the crosshairs of the administration of US President Donald Trump who suspects him of potential spying for the benefit of Beijing, which the group denies.

Huawei was blacklisted last year to prevent it from acquiring essential American technologies for its phones.

Since September, for example, the firm can no longer equip its high-end devices with new Kirin chips, which the group does not have the capacity to manufacture in-house.

It also no longer has access to updates to Android, the operating system of the American Google ultra dominant on phones.

This situation has apparently benefited its rival Xiaomi.

“Xiaomi took the risk of setting high production targets and that has paid off,” said Mo Jia, Canalys analyst.

As a result, the Chinese manufacturer sold 47.1 million smartphones (+ 45% over one year) over the July-September period, despite global demand down 1% compared to the third quarter of 2019.

“There is a parallel between Xiaomi, which produced 14.5 million more devices, and Huawei, which produced 15.1 million fewer,” notes Mr. Mo.

Founded in 2010, Xiaomi has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, offering high-end devices at an affordable price, and initially selling them directly online.

Almost unknown abroad five years ago, the brand was at the time regularly mocked for its products strongly inspired by the Apple iPhone.

The latter falls in place of the world’s fourth manufacturer behind Xiaomi, with 43.2 million devices sold in the third quarter (+ 1% over one year).

Vivo and Oppo, two other Chinese brands, occupy the fifth and sixth places respectively.