Huawei reached a major milestone in the second quarter of 2020.
A new report says that Huawei surpassed Samsung to ship more smartphones than any other company in Q2 2020. Analyst firm Canalys reports that Huawei shipped 58.8 million devices, which is actually down 5% year-over-year. Meanwhile, Samsung shipped 53.7 million, which is a 30% drop from one year ago.
This is the first quarter in 9 years that a company other than Samsung or Apple has been the world's biggest smartphone vendor.
Huawei is still facing a US ban that prevents it from shipping new phones with Google's Android apps, which contribtued to Huawei's overseas smartphone shipments dropping 27% in Q2 2020. Huawei managed to boost its smartphones shipments in China by 8% in the same quarter, though, and it now sells more than 70% of its phones in China.
The coronavirus likely helped Huawei become the world's biggest smartphone maker in Q2 2020. Lots of places like the US and Europe have been dealing with the virus and lockdowns to help fight the spread, but China has seen its factories and economy reopening.
With its slim lead, other countries around the world reopening, and some major smartphone launches from other companies coming up, Huawei may not be able to retain its title as the world's largest smartphone vendor for long. Still, it's a significant accomplishment for Huawei to be the first company to overtake Samsung and Apple in 9 years.