By Sweeping China Market
Huawei took the top spot in the global 5G smartphone market in 2019 by sweeping the Chinese market. Unlike Samsung Electronics which launched 5G phones worldwide, Huawei sold most of its 5G phone in China.
Huawei shipped 6.9 million units of 5G phones in 2019, recording a 36.9 percent market share, said market research firm Strategy Analytics (SA) on Jan. 29. Samsung Electronics accounted for 35.8 percent (6.7 million units). The gap between the two companies is only 1.1 percentage points, which indicates that they are fiercely competing in the market.
Huawei’s popular 5G models are the Mate 20 and the Mate 30 Pro. They were mostly sold in China, a market which is not affected by U.S. sanctions, SA said. By contrast, Samsung Electronics launched 5G phones in various countries including Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Following Huawei and Samsung Electronics, Vivo and Xiaomi recorded 10.7 percent and 6.4 percent shares, respectively. LG Electronics came in fifth with a 4.8 percent share (900,000 units).