Huawei continues to lead the way as the largest smartphone maker in the month of May as reported by The Lec. This comes after the Chinese company overtook Samsung in April. Many expected Samsung to return to the top of the tree but Huawei has continued to lead the way despite all their trade issues with the US.
Samsung first lost its spot due to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In April its sales were down heavily as fewer people were spending money. However, this does not appear to have recovered enough to reclaim the top spot in May.
Huawei continue as largest smartphone maker
For the month of May, Huawei controlled 19.7% of the smartphone market. It was a close run thing as Samsung also controlled 19.6% of the sector. Last month the gap was around 2% so clearly Samsung is on the road to recovery. Perhaps just not quite as quickly as many expected.
This is still impressive from Huawei given the trade sanctions the company is currently exposed to. This has most recently limited Huawei’s use of Google services. This, in turn, will affect the company’s overseas sales and in the future will likely see them slip back behind Samsung.
China’s earlier reopening of their economy allowed Huawei to gain ground on competitors over the last two months. However, as the rest of the world begins to open up then the playing ground will even itself out.
Huawei is also expected to launch its Mate 40 series over the coming months as reported by Gizmo China. This could give the company a boost but Samsung is gaining fast on the Chinese giant.
Samsung close the gap
The closing of the gap between the two companies can be attributed to a recovery in US sales in May.
Whilst they were heavily down in April signs of recovery began to show themselves in May. This has allowed Samsung to recover somewhat and press a claim for that top spot once more.
Samsung also appears to be strengthening its range in the coming months. This should see them overtake Huawei in June if not later in the year.
Over the coming months, Samsung will release its mid-tier Galaxy A line-up as well as its Galaxy Note 20 series, Galaxy Fold 2 and S20 Fan Edition later this year.
However, some would argue that if it was not for the US trade sanctions then Huawei would overtake Samsung completely this year. Samsung has a 33% market share in the US and if Huawei was able to feed into some of this that would make a huge difference.
Huawei’s overseas future is currently uncertain. How this plays out over the coming months could be pivotal to how the smartphone industry looks going into 2021. Samsung is likely to head back to the position of market leader but Huawei is sitting ready to pounce.