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HUAWEI had an amazing 2018, at least with smartphone shipments

HUAWEI saw a record number of smartphones shipped in 2018. Just eight years ago, the company shipped only three million smartphones.
By
December 24, 2018
HUAWEI Mate 20
TL;DR
  • HUAWEI shipped over 200 million smartphones in 2018, a company record.
  • A good chunk of shipped smartphones came from the P20, Mate 20, and Nova series.
  • However, HUAWEI also saw plenty of negative headlines in the U.S. and other countries.

Huawei looks to end 2018 on a positive note as the company announced it shipped over 200 million smartphones in 2018. That is the most number of smartphones that HUAWEI has ever shipped in any given year.

In the announcement, HUAWEI called out three of its smartphone line-ups: the P20, Mate 20, and Nova series. Starting with the P20 series, the P20, P20 Pro, and P20 Lite shipped over 16 million units since their availability in March.

Meanwhile, the Mate 20 series shipped over 5 million units in just two months. The Mate 20 series is comprised of the Mate 20, Mate 20 Pro, Mate 20 X, and Porsche Design Mate 20 RS.

Finally, HUAWEI noted that its mid-range Nova series shipped over 68 million units as of the end of 2018. The Nova series saw four new entries this year in the forms of the Nova 3, Nova 3i, Nova 3E, and Nova 4. HUAWEI didn’t say how many Nova smartphones it shipped just in 2018.

HUAWEI troubles poised to land on US industry
Features

HUAWEI also didn’t say how many HONOR smartphones it shipped in 2018. That said, we’ve seen a slew of HONOR smartphones released in 2018. New entries include the HONOR 10, HONOR Play, HONOR 8X, and others.

What’s interesting to see is HUAWEI’s exponential growth over the last eight years juxtaposed with recent headlines. Back in 2010, HUAWEI shipped only 3 million smartphones.

Fast forward to 2018, when HUAWEI shipped 66 times as many smartphones as it did in 2010. The substantial increase in shipped smartphones helped the company attain 14.6 percent of the global smartphone market.

Even with the exponential growth, HUAWEI is going through somewhat of a rough patch as of late. The U.S. is reportedly trying to convince other countries to no longer use HUAWEI’s telecommunications equipment.

HUAWEI also faced scrutiny from the U.K. and Australia, with Australia banning HUAWEI-made equipment from the country’s 5G networks. The concerns are over HUAWEI’s alleged deep ties with the Chinese government.

HUAWEI maintains that it poses no more risk than any other ICT vendor.