Despite its ongoing Android ban and beef with the US government, Huawei says it managed to shift 6.9 million 5G phones last year, just about pipping Samsung’s 6.7 million figure.
The company hasn’t yet revealed where the bulk of sales occurred – but given that most of its 5G models are exclusively available in China, it’s likely that Huawei’s popularity in its home country accounts for much of that 6.9 million figure.
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Earlier this month, Samsung released its own sales data and claimed that it had managed to stake out a 53.79% market share in 5G-enabled smartphones. But if Huawei’s new figures are correct, it looks the Chinese company has knocked Samsung off the top spot.
Huawei has been releasing 5G models at a slow and steady pace. Its first 5G model hit shelves in China back in July 2019, when it released the Huawei Mate 20x 5G. Since then, the company has gone on to release seven additional 5G models, including the flagship Mate 30 Pro 5G and the ultra-luxe Porsche design Mate 30 RS.
The company’s flagship foldable, the Huawei Mate X, is also 5G-ready. Huawei recently claimed that it has shipped between 400,000 and 500,000 of the phones since its initial release, making it responsible for a sizeable chunk of the company’s overall 5G device sales.
This little nugget of information quickly emerged after Samsung claimed that it had sold 400,000 Galaxy Folds. So this is the second time in two weeks that Huawei has released sales data to one-up its biggest rivals.
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Although the company has an impressive array of 5G phones, you won’t find most of them on UK shelves. This is likely linked to the Android Huawei ban and PR firestorm currently surrounding Huawei, which shows no sign of reaching its conclusion.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.