Apple may still be increasing sales of its iconic iPhone, but another vendor is catching up with it: China’s Huawei, which sells phones under its own brand and the youth-oriented Honor brand.
According to the latest statistics from analyst house Canalys, Apple shipped 41 million iPhones around the world in the second quarter of this year – 2 percent up from the same quarter in 2016. Samsung remains the leader of the pack but with flat growth, shipping 79 million units in the quarter.
However, Huawei shipped 38 million smartphones in Q2, up 20 percent year-on-year. Oppo and Xiaomi, two other Chinese brands, also showed tremendous growth, securing their fourth and fifth places with 44 percent and 52 percent growth respectively.
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As Canalys noted, Huawei is currently 3 million units away from knocking Apple into third place. However, the next iPhone could change matters.
Read: Is The World Big Enough for Huawei?
“Smartphone shipments to North America increased around 7 percent year on year, with Apple growing 10 percent,” said Canalys research analyst Vincent Thielke. “Apple outperformed Samsung despite the launch of the Galaxy S8, and growing anticipation for the next iPhone.”
On the subject of Samsung, Canalys analyst Tim Coulling also said that shipments had been “strong in some regions, but there are signs that demand has been overestimated… Canalys’ channels research has revealed inventory buildup in Europe which, when combined with discounting in the U.S., indicates Samsung may be testing the limits of Android smartphone pricing.”