FollowAccording to a recent study, Huawei has become the third largest manufacturer and distributer of smartphones in the world. The Chinese company has been booming in recent years, experiencing 89.5% annual growth year to year. This past last quarter of 2012, Huawei shipped 10.8 million smartphones to clinch the third spot of the leader boards for total smartphones made.
Huawei came in behind second place US based Apple, with 47.8 million smartphones and the first place South Korean Samsung, which made an astounding 63.7 million units. Bringing up the rear of the the top five are Japan’s Sony in fourth place and 9.8 million units and another Chinese company, ZTE, in fifth place with 9.5 million units. ZTE and Huawei are both new to the smartphone market, and their rise to success has surprised some experts, but others have been expecting this Chinese surge in the smartphone market for a while.
In terms of market share, the Chinese companies still have a long way to go. Samsung currently holds 29% of the global smartphone market, while Apple holds 21.8%. These are the two clear and distant leaders in the world market, as the competitors do not even get above 10% of the market. Huawei is in third with 4.9%, Sony is in fourth with 4.5% and ZTE is in fifth with 4.3%. These numbers are expected to grow for Huawei and ZTE, as they have been rising for a number of years now and are showing no sigs of slowing.
One thing that will remain true in the market of cellular devices is change. When technology is advancing at such an astounding rate, it is the nature if such a market to have leaders come and go as new technology is invented and those that invent it are allowed the chance to profit from it.
