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Global production drop could help Huawei to become the world's second largest smartphone maker

Huawei Mate 20 Pro flagship, Huawei could beat Apple in 2019
Huawei Mate 20 Pro flagship
Although it might struggle in some markets like India — where it lost the crown to Xiaomi — Samsung remains the leader of the global smartphone market. On the other hand, the smartphone production drop of 3.3 percent expected for 2019 could help Chinese brand Huawei to finally beat Apple and to become the world's second smartphone maker.

While 2018 could be considered a good year for the mobile industry overall, 2019 might not be good at all. The 3.3 percent decrease expected by TrendForce could go as far as 5 percent if the demand proves to be even worse than anticipated and if the US-China trade war continues. For Huawei, on the other side, this global trend could turn into a minor victory.

The aforementioned market report claims that "Samsung would remain the market leader, while Huawei is expected to surpass Apple to become the world's second largest smartphone maker. Apple would then take the third place." There are also some interesting numbers revealed by TrendForce, such as Samsung's 293 million smartphones made in 2018 — a YoY decline of no less than 8 percent. However, the South Korean giant is expected to keep its leading position, with a market share of around 20 percent.

Moving on, we encounter Huawei, with 205 million units shipped last year, but a solid YoY increase of 30 percent. Finally, Apple's production declined by 3 percent in 2018, and the recent iPhone sales bans are not helping, either. In the end, Apple's market share could hit a low point of 13 percent and 189 million units by the end of this year.

Considering all the above, it would be a natural move to see Huawei as the world's second largest smartphone maker at the end of 2019. In the long run, Apple might have to face the Chinese wonder trio (Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo), which had a global combined market share of more than 15 percent in 2018.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2019 01 > Global production drop could help Huawei to become the world's second largest smartphone maker
Codrut Nistor, 2019-01-14 (Update: 2019-01-14)