Huawei Sees Major Rise In Smartphone Shipments

Huawei has reported a 26 percent rise in smartphone shipments as it continues its rapid expansion throughout the world.

The Chinese company said that it shipped 16.8 million devices across the world over the last three months, and 51 million units in total so far this year, meaning it well on its way towards hitting its annual shipment target of 80 million.

A quarter of these devices which were mid or high-end models, more than twice as many as the same quarter last year, as Huawei announced several new products including the Ascend P7 smartphone and Ascend Mate 7 phablet in an attempt to compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple.

Rising demand

“We are breaking our bottlenecks of mid- to high-end models step by step, especially in overseas markets,” Huawei consumer business group marketing executive Shao Yang told Reuters in an interview.

The company saw strong growth in the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, but just over half of its smartphone shipments in the third quarter were to China.

He added that the company plans to continue this growth with a rise in global marketing budget, which will increase 30 percent in 2015 from the $440 million spent this year.

Shao also said he expected quarter-on-quarter shipments growth of up to 80 percent in the fourth quarter.

In July, Huawei revealed that a strong demand for both its smartphones and its 4G network equipment had led a 19 percent increase in sales revenue.

It has also committed to spending $4 billion (£2.46m) in the research and development of fixed broadband technologies over the next three years, allowing carriers and internet service providers to cope with growing demand for cloud, 5G, and M2M services, along with 4K video.

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