This year is almost over, and it seems like some smartphone manufacturers are already laying out their smartphones shipment plans for next year. According to a report from China, Huawei and Xiaomi have already set their sales targets for 2019. If this report is to be believed, as it is based on “unnamed sources”, both companies are set to increase their sales targets by up to 20-percent next year, compared to 2018, of course. Xiaomi is actually aiming to ship out 160 million smartphones in 2019, while Huawei, on the other hand, is aiming to reach that magic 200 million number. That’s not all, though, as the source also shared some info regarding OPPO’s and Vivo’s plans, though those two companies are a bit more modest than Huawei and Xiaomi in their projections, as both OPPO and Vivo are aiming to increase their sales by 10-percent next year, though no specific numbers were shared in the case of OPPO and Vivo.
Background: Xiaomi had crossed the 100 million sales number a while back, a couple of months ago, and it is unknown as to how many smartphones the company sold to date. The holiday season is coming, and that will almost certainly positively impact Xiaomi’s sales for 2018, as it did in previous years, so it remains to be seen what will the company’s final sales count be for 2018, that is something that we’ll probably find out at the very end of the year. Huawei, on the other hand, is ahead of Xiaomi as far as sales go, as that company sold 100 million phones in 2018 much sooner than Xiaomi, though we’re still not sure what’s the current tally either, as no official info was shared, nor did we see any reports when it comes to that. That is not surprising, though, as Huawei is the second or third smartphone manufacturer in the world, depending on which time of the year we’re looking at, as it’s constantly trading places with Apple in that regard. The company is also leading the Chinese market, even though both OPPO and Vivo have managed to close in on Huawei quite a bit. According to the latest info, Huawei is holding 23-percent of the market in China, while OPPO and Vivo have 21-percent each. Xiaomi is also in the mix, though it is trailing a bit behind at 13-percent. Xiaomi is, on the other hand, doing a great job in India, as the company managed to become the very first smartphone manufacturer in India a while back, and since then, it has been constantly increasing its lead, leaving Samsung behind.
Xiaomi’s budget smartphones are selling the best, which is not exactly a surprise, as the company was basically built on manufacturing and selling affordable phones. The company’s Redmi-branded devices have managed to secure its number one spot in India, as those phones are constantly at the very top of sales charts in the country. Xiaomi has been increasing its presence in Europe as well, quite a bit, as the company had opened a ton of Mi Stores in Europe in 2018, and that number will only grow in 2019, as many more are planned. It remains to be seen when will Xiaomi reach the US, the company is already selling some of its products in the States, but not its smartphones, at least not officially. It is also worth noting that Xiaomi actually opened a couple of hundred stores in India at the same time, quite recently, and thus set a new record. Huawei also has a huge presence in Europe, and it has been that for quite some time now, while the company is having issues in the US. It has a much larger presence than Xiaomi, but the latest attempt to sell its devices via US carriers did not really go down well, as Huawei was faced with all sorts of issues on the American soil, and is currently in the middle of working through that. Those issues actually caused the company to have issues in some other areas, in Australia, to be more exact.
Impact: Chinese smartphone manufacturers have been increasing their presence all around the world, and both Huawei and Xiaomi managed to become really important players in the smartphone business over the years, and the same can be said for both OPPO and Vivo. Huawei and Xiaomi have a much more significant presence outside of China compared to OPPO and Vivo, but both OPPO and Vivo are working on changing that, and in 2019 we could see a lot more of their smartphones becoming available in markets outside of China, and outside of Asia even. The rumored Vivo NEX 2 seems like a really interesting smartphone which will shave off bezels without including a notch or a display camera hole, while it will include a secondary display on the back. This is a significant change compared to the Vivo NEX’s approach with a pop-up front-facing camera, and the NEX 2 will almost certainly roll out to a number of markets around the world in 2019. OPPO’s upcoming R19 smartphone will include a display camera hole, and chances are it will be a role model for the OnePlus 7 which is expected to arrive in mid-2019. Now, as far as Xiaomi and Huawei are concerned, both companies have a lot of things planned for us in 2019. Xiaomi will release a new version of its Mi MIX 3 flagship in early 2019, and that version of the phone will have support for 5G networks, even though consumers won’t get access to 5G before the second half of 2019, and chances are that it won’t become a standard anytime soon. Huawei is planning to release a foldable smartphone in 2019, much like Samsung, LG and some other companies, while we’ll also see plenty of next-gen flagships from the company, and many mid-range devices as well, which the company hopes will help it reach that magic 200 million sales number. The Huawei P30 and P30 Plus are expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2019 as well, so it will be an interesting year when it comes to smartphones, that’s for sure.