Huawei sold 19 million Android flagships over the course of the first half of the year, the company said Friday, boasting of its significant performance improvement in the handset market that allowed it to become the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer, outdoing Apple and being left only behind Samsung. The company validated IDC’s recent report estimating massive growth in the second quarter of the year, adding that its first-quarter performance was also extremely positive, with its total 1H 2018 mobile product shipments surpassing 95 million.
Last year’s Mate 10 series of Android flagships continued selling well in 2018, having ended up shipping more than ten million units, whereas the more recently launched P20 lineup hit nine million sell-ins. The Shenzhen, Guangdong-based technology giant did not disclose its sell-through rates, i.e. clarified what volume of its smartphone shipments ended up being bought by consumers. This June, Huawei said the P20 line alone sold over six million units in its first three months of commercial availability, suggesting its performance still ended up slowing down during the second quarter of the year. Another major first-half milestone outlined by the Chinese conglomerate is the performance of its Nova family of value-oriented handsets which now features over 50 million users around the world after experiencing a 60-percent jump in annual shipments. The company’s wearable business is following a similar trajectory, being 147-percent up year-on-year.
The electronics manufacturer is planning to open 700 new Experience Stores and 10,000 extra retail locations across the globe by the end of the year, adding to its already robust network numbering some 53,000 brick-and-mortar outlets, as well as around 3,500 Experience Stores. Earlier this week, the company revealed it generated $47.67 billion in first-half revenue, a 15-percent annual increase. Huawei is still seeking to become the largest smartphone maker in the world within the next five years, with its management being extremely optimistic about its chances of doing so as early as 2019.