Huawei And Xiaomi: The Companies Behind The Phones

Huawei and Xiaomi: The companies behind the phones

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin Lenaghan

MAJOR CHALLENGES FOR THE EAST ASIAN MANUFACTURERS

In last week’s issue, we looked at the wave of Chinese-branded smartphones entering global territories outside East Asia and how these devices compare to Apple’s offerings in their features and software. While there’s now a long list of Chinese smartphone purveyors, two brands that particularly stand out are Huawei and Xiaomi, which are now both vulnerable to the escalating trade war waged by the Trump administration against imports from the People’s Republic.

Fortunately for Huawei and Xiaomi, they have grown to such an extent – both as companies and in terms of smartphone market share – that they can afford to weather the storm of this trade conflict. However, this isn’t to say that their hard-earned edge in the global market isn’t under threat – and it leaves open the question of whether a Chinese smartphone would be such a good investment for the typical U.S. tech consumer after all.

In this week’s article, we’ll be looking closely at a wide range of subjects like these.

HOW HUAWEI AND XIAOMI ARE FARING IN THE GLOBAL MARKET

According to a recent report by research firm Gartner, global sales of Huawei phones saw a year-on-year increase of 16.5% during the second quarter, cementing the company’s position as the runner-up in this particular market, where it now chases only Samsung. Huawei’s share of the market was 15.8% during the quarter, while Samsung’s sat at 20.4%. Apple, meanwhile, was at 10.5%, its share has fallen by 13% compared to what the Cupertino company achieved in 2018’s corresponding quarter.