In June and July 2017, Huawei was found to be the second bestselling smartphone brand globally. Whilst the race to become the top smartphone brand has usually been a two way race between Samsung and Apple, the inclusion of Huawei into this race at least temporarily is indicative of future trends. The company’s fast growth in the most populous parts of the world, namely China and the wider Asia-Pacific region suggests that Huawei is certainly a force to be reckoned with in the coming years. The strong growth potential in this region means Huawei can position itself more permanently as the second bestselling smartphone brand globally in the coming years, taking into account that Apple’s core market, namely the Americas, is relatively more mature compared to the Asia-Pacific market.
However Huawei is not satisfied with its strong position in China and the Asia-Pacific region only. The company clearly wants to become a major player in other parts of the world as well, and to that effect is seeking to boost its brand image in other parts of the world by engaging in sponsorship deals with major sporting clubs, as well as investing strongly in research and development in order to negate the stereotype of Chinese smartphones being technologically inferior compared to other smartphones available in the market. Introducing new processors and staying with, if not ahead of, other market players technologically also plays a key part in the company’s strategy to expand its sales abroad.
Ultimately the company’s efforts should pay off and Huawei smartphones sales should rise in Europe, South America and Africa as well in the coming years. The exception to this rule will however be the United States, where suspicions over Huawei’s links to the Chinese government will prevent the company from boosting its brand image. The fact that sporting clubs in the country too are unwilling to engage with Huawei as they are in other parts of the world suggests that the scope for Huawei’s growth in the US is rather limited, especially if compared to other parts of the world.