As of March 2025, Huawei's market share of smartphones in Asia amounted to 3.15 percent, indicating a decrease in market share compared to the previous year. Huawei's smartphone market share in Asia peaked in 2020 when it accounted for almost 10 percent of the mobile vendor market.

Since entering the market, Huawei have enjoyed a prolonged period of growth. In Q1 2016 the company accounted for just 8.3 percent of all smartphones sold to end users. By the Q2 2020, this figure climbed to 18.4 percent, more than they had ever had. However, in Q3 2020, this market share declined by four percentage points to 14.1 percent, followed by an even steeper drop in the fourth quarter of 2020 when they obtained 8.9 percent of the market share. Huawei has not had a lower market share since Q3 2018.

As of March 2025, Huawei accounted for around five percent of the smartphone market in Hong Kong. Smartphone market in Hong Kong  Since the end of 2017, Apple has always kept its position as the leading smartphone market player in Hong Kong with a market share of over 50 percent. However, despite Apple’s steady domination in the smartphone market in Hong Kong, Huawei has almost doubled its market share from 4.57 percent to around eleven percent from 2018 to 2019. This growing popularity of Huawei globally can be traced back to the second quarter of 2018, when the global shipment volume of Huawei smartphones surpassed Apple for the first time. However, Huawei was unable to defend its global market position. Huawei Huawei, the leading Chinese smartphone manufacturer, generated a revenue of around 704 billion yuan in 2023, mainly from telecommunication services and equipment. In the beginning of 2012, Huawei’s market share was merely 3.3 percent, however this then surged to over 18 percent in the third quarter of 2019, translating to over 66 million units of smartphone shipments worldwide. However, the U.S. sanctions cut off the companies access to cutting-edge chip sets. Since then, Huawei has diverted its focus from smartphones to other business segments.

Apple held the largest slice of the global smartphone market by shipments during the fourth quarter of 2024, followed by Samsung. Xiaomi has taken a tight grip on the third position, accounting for a market share of 13 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024. Samsung and Apple smartphone sales Smartphone vendors have been suffering from the events of the past couple of years, including the pandemic and the economic downturn. However, they all appear to be recovering, as shown by the recent increase in shipments. For instance, mostly based on the main line of Galaxy Series, Samsung's smartphone shipments totaled nearly 223.5 million units globally in 2024. Next to Samsung, Apple is a major manufacturer of smartphones worldwide, with the company shipping more than 228 million iPhones worldwide in 2024. Apple’s sales tend to be very cyclical, peaking in the fourth quarter each year, much like in the fourth quarter of 2023, when they took the first spot in terms of units shipped globally with around 80.5 units. Xiaomi in the lead While Apple and Samsung are typically the two major companies challenging for the top spot, Huawei had provided a strong challenge in recent years. Particularly, the Chinese company managed to climb the smartphone market ladder between 2011 and 2024, recording shipments of over 42 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, strong performances from rivals like Xiaomi and the effects of the U.S. trade ban have since seen Huawei fall outside the list of top five vendors by smartphone shipments.

Between 2012 and 2023, Huawei' share of the mobile device market fluctuated. After reaching its highest value in 2019, when the Chinese company occupied just under 20 percent of the market, its market share stared to decrease, dropping to around 5.4 percent in 2023.

As of January 2024, Huawei's mobile market share in Saudi Arabia fell to its third lowest of all time at 4.62 percent. The company witnessed positive market share growth until 2020, but has since only seen their share drop each year. The mobile market in Saudi Arabia is dominated by Apple and Samsung, both of which, however, have also lost some market share to more budget-friendly Chinese smartphone manufacturers in recent years.

In 2024, vivo and Huawei accounted for the highest market share of the Chinese smartphone market with a share of over 16 percent. In 2021, Huawei lost its leading position after the company was subjected U.S. trade restrictions. The rise of Huawei  Back in 2014, the competition in the smartphone market in China was fierce with both domestic brands and foreign brands like Samsung and Apple. Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo have become the largest players in the market with a total combined market share of over 50%. Additionally, Huawei’s brand recognition has spread to other parts of the world. In the first quarter of 2012, the smartphone shipments of Huawei only accounted for around three percent globally, but the market share of Huawei has diappeared. Global shipments of Huawei devices have also vanished, from slightly over 107 million units in 2015 to almost nothing in 2023. While the company has not made a comeback to to global smartphone market yet, it has been one of the most successful companies in China. Chinese smartphone market  Since 2011, the volume of smartphone shipments in China has steadily increased, reaching over 460 million units in 2016 at the highest ever shipment. However, the figure dropped slightly in 2017 and even fell below 400 million units in 2018 and 2019, parallel to the economic downturn worldwide and demonstrating the slowing down of Chinese economic growth. However, due to the largest population in the world, more smartphones were sold in China than in any other country.

In September 2024, Huawei accounted for 0.55 percent share of the Taiwan smartphone market. The market share of Huawei in Taiwan has been decreasing gradually over the last months.

In the first quarter of 2024, Samsung and Apple were leaders of the European smartphone market. Xiaomi grew from four percent in the first quarter of 2019 to 18 percent in the first quarter of 2024.

Smartphones make up the primary component of the European mobile phone market, with the smartphone penetration rate in Europe being forecast to reach almost 82 percent in 2024.

Leading manufacturers maintain their share. While the total share of the European market held by Samsung and Apple has fluctuated during this time, they still accounted for more than 50 percent of the total market in the first quarter of 2024. The two tech giants alone were responsible for around 40 percent of global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2024. Rather than the larger manufacturers, it has been the smaller manufacturers such as LG, ZTE and Lenovo that have seen their share of shipments decline. Since the third quarter of 2020, Huawei’s share has dropped significantly as well.

Huawei stalls Huawei’s previous growth was observed in the increase of total number of handsets shipped to 55.8 million units in the second quarter of 2020. However, in the fourth quarter of 2020, Huawei’s total number of shipments dropped significantly to 32.3 million, and their European smartphone market share dropped to 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2021.

Manufacturers’ market share of smartphone sales in the United States is led by Apple and Samsung, with a market share of 52 percent and 24 percent, respectively, as of the second quarter of 2024. Next to Apple and Samsung are Lenovo and HMD, with respective market shares of 12 and one percent.  Global smartphone market While Apple continues to lead the U.S. smartphone market, it has traditionally lagged behind on the global scale. Samsung has been the leading smartphone vendor worldwide since 2012. However, Samsung’s lead in terms of market share has started to dwindle in recent years, meaning that Apple and other Chinese competitors, such as Xiaomi, vivo, and Huawei, have seen a boost in the smartphone industry. Apple’s traction on the global scale in 2020 comes from its move towards 5G-enabled smartphones, which have doubled sales one year, from 2020 to 2021, alone. Apple is currently the leading vendor in terms of global 5G smartphone shipments. The introduction of 5G throughout the world brings with it the possibility to upheave the smartphone market as we know it. Are U.S. consumers satisfied with Apple and Samsung phones? Apple and Samsung not only lead the smartphone market in the United States in terms of usage, but also in terms of customer satisfaction. The highest ranked smartphone models on the American customer satisfaction index are nearly all Samsung Galaxy and Apple iPhone models. Furthermore, it appears that U.S. smartphone users are unlikely to change their primarily used smartphone brand anytime soon.

The mobile device market in Germany has been and continues to be dominated by Apple and Samsung phones: in 2024, Samsung occupied 35 percent of the market, whilst Apple took a share of 33 percent. Xiaomi took the third spot, occupying around 11 percent of the mobile device market.

Samsung held a 20 percent share of the global smartphone market in the first quarter of 2024. Apple followed closely behind, with an overall share of 17 percent.

The changing face of the smartphone market

The make-up of the smartphone market has changed significantly since 2009. Nokia used to lead the industry with almost 50 percent of the smartphone market share in 2007, and before the arrival of the iPhone, it was hard for consumers to imagine Nokia becoming a market outsider.

Huawei's rise and fall have had a significant impact on the face of the market. Huawei consistently challenged Apple and Samsung for position at the top of the market, even leading it in the second quarter of 2020. Huawei has not appeared in the top five since the second quarter of 2021, largely as a result of trade restrictions.

RIM’s Blackberry devices stand as an example of the effect large-display touchscreen devices had on the market. Blackberry devices sold on a number of strengths, including a well-designed physical QWERTY keyboard and secure enterprise integration. The Blackberry lost its unique value as touchscreen devices improved, leading to a significant decline in revenue. RIM eventually ceased development of the Blackberry in 2016.

As of 2023, for the first time ever, Apple ranked as the market leader in the global smartphone market with a 20.1 percent share of all shipments. The tech giant retained the top title in 2024, with a share of nearly 19 percent of the global smartphone market. Samsung ranked second, holding 18 percent of the market share. Global smartphone market shareSamsung has seen its popularity steadily increase since it held just a 4.3 percent of the smartphone vendor market at the beginning of 2010. Samsung’s share of the overall mobile phone market, has fluctuated in recent times, dropping to under 20 percent in the most recent year. Apple became smartphone market leader based on shipments in 2023. Apple’s smartphone sales are relatively cyclical and peak in the fourth quarter each year. In the fourth quarter of 2024, 23 percent of all smartphones new smartphones sold were iPhones. The iPhone generated considerable revenue for Apple with sales of the device amounting to over 200 billion U.S. dollars in their 2024 financial year.

The statistic shows the market share of Huawei in regards to new mobile phone sales worldwide from 2012 to 2014. In 2013, Huawei's market share was at 2.9 percent.

As of 2024, Vivo accounted for the highest market share of the Chinese smartphone market at 17.2 percent. In that year, After a three-year absence, Huawei has returned to the top-tier smartphone market after the release of several popular models. The rise of HuaweiBack in 2014, the smartphone market in China was decentralized, with various domestic brands and major international brands like Samsung and Apple all accounting for only around one tenth of the market. During the last few years, the market became more concentrated with three domestic brands, namely Huawei, Vivo, and Oppo. The latter two belong to the same consumer electronic technology company BKK, while Huawei claimed to be a privately owned independent corporation. The three brands have dominated the Chinese smartphone market with a total market share of over 60 percent since 2018. Among the three, Huawei made a huge jump in market share from 2017 to 2019, almost doubling its market share from 20 percent to 38 percent. However, over the course of the trade disputes between China and the United States, the company was affected by sanctions which impacted its smartphone division. Chinese smartphone market  As the largest smartphone market in the world, the volume of smartphone shipments in China has been steadily increasing since 2011, with shipments once peaking over 460 million units in 2016. However, the figure started dropping in 2017 and even fell below 400 million units in 2018, parallel to the economic downturn worldwide and demonstrating the slowing down of the Chinese economic growth. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak in the beginning of 2020, the smartphone shipment in China was estimated to have dipped in the first two quarters but would begin to recover again in the rest of the year.

As of March 2024, Xiaomi was the Chinese brand with the highest market share in South America, accounting for 14.63 percent of the smartphone web traffic in the region. It was followed by Huawei, with a market share of almost two percent. Among all smartphone brands, Samsung was the strongest with nearly 46 percent share of the traffic.

In Italy, Huawei's tablet market share overall increased between 2019 and 2023. After peaking at 13.4 percent in 2021, Huawei's share of the Italian tablet market decreased, reaching around seven percent in 2023.

As of September 2024, Oppo led the mobile vendor market in Indonesia, with a share of around 17 percent. It was followed by Samsung with a share of about 16.4 percent. Collectively, Oppo, Samsung, and Xiaomi accounted for nearly half of the mobile market share in the country. Oppo's rising dominance Oppo’s market share in Indonesia has risen significantly over the past years. The brand's relatively affordable prices have been one of the key drivers of its growth in the country, as Indonesian consumers tend to look for value for their money, searching for smartphones that are reasonably priced with good performance. In 2023, Oppo managed to tail Samsung in terms of the market share of unit shipments, indicating strong competition in the rapidly evolving Indonesian smartphone market. Smartphone usage and the telecommunications market With a substantial number of mobile internet users, Indonesia’s telecommunications market is one of the largest in Southeast Asia. Smartphones in Indonesia are used for various activities that require reliable network capabilities, such as video streaming and online gaming. While users have reported positive experience with 5G networks for these activities, the development of 5G infrastructure in Indonesia is still faced with challenges, including high costs and spectrum shortages. This has led to significantly slower 5G network growth compared to Indonesia’s neighboring countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.

As of March 2024, Huawei's market share of smartphones in Asia amounted to 3.71 percent, indicating a decrease in market share compared to the previous year. Huawei's smartphone market share in Asia peaked in 2020 when it accounted for almost 10 percent of the mobile vendor market.

In the fourth quarter of 2021 Apple took the top spot in smartphone shipments worldwide, accounting for 22 percent of the market share that quarter. Apple was followed by Samsung, with 18.9 percent of the market share.