Huawei's Humiliation, Smartphone Market Share Falls from 1st to 6th... "Impact of US Sanctions"

Dropped to 6th Place Six Months After Ranking 1st in Q2 Last Year
"Sharp Decline in Most Markets Due to US Sanctions"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] The strong sanctions imposed by the United States have dealt a direct blow to Huawei's smartphone shipments. After being placed on the U.S. 'Entity List' in 2019 and becoming a target of sanctions, Huawei fell out of the top 5 in the global smartphone market share rankings within a year.

According to foreign media including CNBC on the 28th (local time), Huawei's smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of last year were recorded at 33 million units, a 41% decrease compared to 56 million units in the same period the previous year. As a result, its market share dropped to 8%, placing it 6th among global smartphone manufacturers. Throughout the past year, Huawei held the 3rd position in market share.

This performance came just six months after Huawei shipped 54.8 million smartphones in the second quarter of last year, surpassing Samsung Electronics' 54.2 million units and ranking first in global market share for the first time. Market research firm Canalys analyzed that Huawei had consistently maintained a top position in market share for the past six years but dropped to 6th place for the first time this time.

This is interpreted as the U.S. sanctions hampering Huawei's progress. Amber Liu, an analyst at Canalys, said, "Due to U.S. sanctions, Huawei has rapidly retreated in most markets." After Huawei was placed on the U.S. 'Entity List' in 2019, even Google's smartphone operating system (OS), Android OS, was blocked. Additionally, in May of last year, the U.S. blocked transactions between Huawei and Taiwan's foundry company TSMC, making it difficult for Huawei to receive semiconductor components for smartphones from TSMC, which significantly impacted smartphone shipments.

Huawei plans to overcome the current crisis through business restructuring. A Huawei official said in an interview with CNBC, "Huawei has always been committed to innovation," adding, "We will focus more on cloud computing and artificial intelligence sectors, which have high growth potential going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.