Huawei had a pretty big 2015, and now they are looking to follow that up with an even bigger 2016. Last year, the company shipped over 100 million smartphones. That includes the likes of the Huawei P8, P8 Lite, Mate S, and the Nexus 6P which is arguably their biggest seller, especially in western markets. Now the company is looking to increase that number by about 20% and ship 120 million smartphones in 2016. At CES, the company announced the Mate 8 for the international markets, after having announced it in China back in November. They also announced the GX8, which is a mid-range smartphone from Huawei.
Lest we forget that Huawei also owns Honor, which has been looking like its own company as of late. Honor also launched the Honor 5X this week, and will be available later this month for under $200. So Huawei is in good shape to hit that 120 million shipping mark that they are aiming for in 2016. It won’t be easy, but neither was shipping 100 million smartphones in 2015.
We’re also hearing that the success of the Nexus 6P has helped out Huawei’s brand image in many markets where Huawei was not strong before. From talking with Huawei back in November, that is a pretty big deal for them. The company has been looking to expand more outside of Asia, and into Europe and the Americas, and the Nexus 6P is definitely helping with that. Of course, we don’t have any specific numbers on how well the Nexus 6P has sold for Huawei, but it’s definitely doing well for the company.
Shipping 120 million smartphones in the 2016 year isn’t going to be easy. But if there is a Chinese manufacturer that can do it, it’s definitely Huawei. They are now the biggest manufacturer in China, recently reclaiming that title from Xiaomi. But don’t be fooled. Xiaomi and the many, many other smartphone makers in China are not going to back down. In fact, they will be getting even more competitive in 2016. And that’s something that’s going to be great for consumers. Competition means innovation, and that normally means lower prices for better phones and newer features that we might not see without competition.