Customers at a Huawei-licensed device experience store on October 30, 2020 in Suzhou, China.
Fred Lee | Getty Images News | Getty Images
GUANGZHOU, China – Huawei’s smartphone transport has continued to decline due to US sanctions, hitting the one-time no. 1 retailer in the world has tumbled among opponents like Apple.
The Chinese technology giant shipped 33 million smartphones worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2020, down 41% year-on-year, bringing its market share to 8%, according to data released by Counterpoint Research on Thursday.
This made Huawei the sixth largest manufacturer of smartphones in the December quarter, behind Chinese competitors such as Oppo and Vivo and far behind Apple and Samsung.
Data released by Canalys on Thursday showed that Huawei shipped 32 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, almost 43% lower than last year. This is the first time Huawei has slipped out of the top five in six years, Canalys said.
“Huawei has fallen dramatically in most markets as a result of U.S. sanctions,” Canalys Research analyst Amber Liu said in a report.
The latest figures point to a sharp decline for Huawei compared to the second quarter of 2020, when it was number 1 in the world by shipments.
According to the research companies, Huawei was the third largest by smartphone transport for the entire 2020 year. Huawei responded to the latest figures with third place.
“Huawei has always been committed to innovation and focused on creating more value for consumers with better products. Over the past year, our smartphone business has developed strongly, and tablet, computer and portable growth has grown significantly. We remain confident about the future, “the company said in a statement.
Huawei’s misery comes when Apple shipped 90.1 million phones during the fourth quarter, according to IDC, the largest number ever shipped by any provider in the history of smartphones. Apple also achieved a record quarter of revenue in China.
Indeed, US sanctions are taking their toll on Huawei’s smartphone business. In 2019, Huawei was placed on a U.S. blacklist called Entity List, which restricted U.S. businesses from exporting key components and software to the company.
The biggest effect was to cut off Huawei from the Android operating system. This is not a big issue in China where Google blocks such Gmail and searches. But in international markets, it has been the key to Huawei’s growth because consumers are used to these services.