Customers of an experience store licensed by Huawei for devices on October 30, 2020 in Suzhou, China.
Fred Lee | Getty Images News | Getty Images
GUANGZHOU, China – Huawei’s shipments of smartphones have continued to fall as a result of US sanctions, sending the world’s No. 1 supplier to fall below rivals such as Apple.
China’s tech giant shipped 33 million smartphones worldwide during the fourth quarter of 2020, a year-on-year drop of 41%, bringing its market share to 8%, according to data released Thursday by Counterpoint Research.
This made Huawei the sixth largest smartphone maker in the December quarter, behind Chinese rivals such as Oppo and Vivo and well behind Apple and Samsung.
Data released Thursday by Canalys showed Huawei shipped 32 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, down nearly 43% from a year earlier. It’s the first time Huawei has stayed in the top five in six years, Canalys said.
“Huawei fell sharply in most markets as a result of U.S. sanctions,” Canalys Research analyst Amber Liu said in a report.
The latest figures mark a sharp drop for Huawei compared to the second quarter of 2020, when it was number 1 in the world for shipments.
According to research companies, Huawei was the third country with the most smartphone shipments throughout 2020. Huawei responded to the latest numbers pointing to its third position.
“Huawei has always been committed to innovation and has been dedicated to creating more value for consumers with better products. Over the past year, our smartphone business has grown robustly and tablets, computers and portable devices have experienced significant growth. We remain confident in the future, “the company said in a statement.
Huawei’s problems come when Apple shipped 90.1 million phones during the fourth quarter, the largest number ever shipped by any vendor in smartphone history, according to IDC. Apple also recorded a fourth record revenue in China.
In fact, US sanctions are affecting Huawei’s smartphone business. In 2019, Huawei was put on the U.S. blacklist, called the Entity List, which restricted U.S. companies from exporting key components and programs to the company.
The most important effect was to cut Huawei off Google’s Android operating system. This is not a big deal in China, where Google services such as Gmail and search are blocked. But in international markets, it has been key to Huawei’s growth, as consumers are accustomed to these services.