Chinese manufacturing giant, Huawei, is one of the top smartphone manufacturers globally. Despite the uncertainties surrounding its global smartphone business, it is still forging ahead. Obviously, its smartphone business in Europe and other areas is going down. However, this is not the case in China. Huawei’s smartphone business in China is blistering. In fact, its performance in China is offsetting the disappointment from other parts of the world. According to a recent report from IDC, Huawei has over 50% share of the Chinese 5G smartphone market. This report is for the third quarter of 2020.
This means that every other phone maker in China combined does not have up to what Huawei has. Popular Chinese manufacturers like Oppo and Vivo claim 16.2% and 14.5% respectively. Xiaomi and Realme have 9.2% and 0/9% respectively.
Top 5 5G smartphone vendors in China for Q3 2020
- Huawei: Shipments – 28.13 million; Market share – 56.6%
- Oppo: Shipments – 8.05 million; Market share – 16.2%
- Vivo: Shipments – 7.2 million; Market share – 14.5%
- Xiaomi: Shipments – 4.57 million; Market share – 9.2%
- Realme: Shipments – 440,000; Market share – 0.9%.
However, it is important to note that it may be an uphill task for Huawei to maintain this performance. Of course, we now have the preponderance of 5G smartphones in the Chinese market, As the options increases, Huawei’s share will most likely reduce. With the launch of Apple’s maiden 5G iPhones in China, we also expect part of Huawei’s 5G smartphone market share in China to shrink. However, Huawei also has plans to keep its grip on the Chinese 5G smartphone market
Gizchina News of the week
A plethora of Huawei 5G smartphones with Dimensity chips are coming soon
Back in August, there were reports MediaTek has a huge chip stock for Huawei. At the time, some reports claimed that the chips are still with MediaTek while others said that Huawei will conclude the deal before the ban took effect in September. According to the latest report, it appears that Huawei concluded the deal before September 15th. Recent reports claim that Huawei purchased a large amount of MediaTek’s newly developed 5G Dimensity chip. If this is the case, then it will not be easy to push Huawei out of the top spot in China. At least, not so soon.
Huawei’s deal with MediaTek reflected in its Q3 2020 financial report
This means that we will soon have a plethora of Huawei 5G smartphones with Dimensity chips. This deal between Huawei and MediaTek also reflected in MediaTek’s third-quarter financial performance. In the third quarter, MediaTek revenue hit NT$97.275 billion (approximately $3.3 billion), a year-on-year increase of 44.7%. Its net profit is NT$ 13.367 billion (approximately $467 million), a year-on-year increase of 93.7%.
MediaTek said that this quarter’s revenue increased compared to the previous quarter and the same period last year, mainly due to the increase in the market share of smartphone chips, the shipment of 5G products, and the increase in sales of consumer electronics such as TVs, WiFi, and power management chips.
MediaTek has been supplying entry-level smartphone chips to Huawei. However, this time, the supply of mid-range and flagship chips pushed up its profits. At the end of August, MediaTek had applied to the United States and hoped to continue to supply Huawei after September 15. However, there is no significant progress with respect to the application. Recent reports claim that any manufacturer hoping to supply Huawei must not be involved with 5G. If this is true, then there is probably no hope for MediaTek.
