Forget about Apple and Samsung. The China-based Huawei Technologies Co has big plans of surpassing the U.S. and South Korean smartphone producers by 2021, one of Huawei’s top executives Richard Yu said this week.

By that date, the Chinese tech giant plans to grab at least 25 percent share of the global smartphone market. Yu acknowledged that they had a long race ahead before achieving this goal, but he added that the company didn’t lack patience.

“We want to be the number-one smartphone maker in the world,”

Yu told journalists at this year’s Converge tech conference.

Huawei has grown quite large in recent years due to its supply network of telecom networking gear and cheap and versatile handsets. The Chinese firm plans to achieve its ambitious goal despite reports that the global and Chinese mobile phone sales are stalling.

Despite the economic context, Huawei saw its sales jump 59 percent since the start of the year. By contrast, Samsung sale volumes haven’t changed while Apple had a 14 percent decrease.

Currently, Apple holds 15 percent of the smartphone market and Samsung 23 percent. Huawei is quickly catching up as market share jumped 8.3 percent over just one quarter.

Huawei is also interested in luring in high-end customers with its latest P9 smartphone which has a super-sharp dual lens camera designed by the Germans who developed the notorious Leica cameras before the World War I.

Yu explained how his company grew so fast into success. He noted that the high-end part of the business helped the company have a rapid ascension. Without that part of the business, Yu believes, Huawei cannot become world leader.

Yu also discussed about the relationship with Leica. He said that it is a long-term partnership, which is expected to last for at least half a decade more.

Furthermore, Huawei has R&D departments that are working on new VR and AR technologies. The tech giant has already partnered with Google Inc and plans to launch a smartphone that is compatible with the U.S. company’s VR headset by the end of the year.

Huawei has reportedly invested heavily in R&D in 2015, i.e. about US$9.2 billion, which topped Apple’s $8.1 billion.

But despite its success in its home country and abroad, Huawei devices failed to win over the U.S. Huawei’s networking gear and antennas were banned from selling to government contractors in 2013. U.S authorities said that the company allowed the Chinese government to eavesdrop on American citizens’ phone calls. The Chinese handset manufacturer has denied the allegations ever since.

Image Source: Flickr