The year 2018 was kind of rough for Huawei, as the company's phones were banned from use by the U.S. government and AT&T, Verizon, and Best Buy all stopped selling Huawei phones. As the year comes to a close, though, Huawei has some good news to share.

Huawei has announced that it shipped more than 200 million smartphones in 2018, which is a new record for the company. To compare, it shipped 153 million smartphones in 2017, and back in 2010 it shipped just 3 million smartphones.

In its announcement, Huawei shared a bit more info on its big year. For example, the Huawei P20 series have shipped more than 16 million units since its launch in March, and the Huawei Mate 20 series has shipped more than 5 million units in the two months following its release. Huawei's Nova series was recorded shipments of more than 65 million in 2018.

Thanks to Huawei's growth, the company has become one of the top smartphone makers in the world. The recent Mate 20 Pro has gotten lots of praise since its launch, which could be frustrating for some folks in the U.S. since it's not being sold by any carriers. The good news is that it is available unlocked, so if you want to see what Huawei and its Mate 20 Pro are all about, you can go that route.

Have you ever owned a Huawei device?