Huawei closer to 140 million smartphone sales target for 2016
Huawei's smartphone segment is apparently more prosperous in 2016 as the Chinese company achieved 100 million handset sales for this year on October 14, a figure it took until December 22 to reach last year, according to its official Weibo account.
The company has secured 30 percent smartphone sales in the price range of 3,000 to 4,000 yuan ($445 to $594) -- normally considered the high-end models for Chinese brands -- and remains the leader in the Chinese market, according to Huawei. Shipments of its flagship dual-camera models P9 and P9 Plus have exceeded 8 million since their launch in April, according to the report.
In April, Huawei set a sales goal of 140 million for the year, 40 percent higher than its actual sales in 2015. He Gang, head of Huawei Technologies' smartphone unit, told Chinese media that the company will achieve the target as expected as its high-end and mid-ranged handsets have registered growth of 100 percent and 30 percent over last year, respectively. Lower priced budget phones, on the other hand, saw the least growth.
According to He, Huawei's overseas sales also saw a boom in the year, with several markets in Western Europe and North Eastern Europe growing between 50 percent and 100 percent over 2015. Poland, where growth was only a single digit in 2015, has seen over 20 percent sales growth of Huawei phones this year, He said.
Huawei previously reported a 40 percent jump in sales for H1 2016, and is aiming to become the global smartphone leader by 2020, according to CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group Richard Yu.
The company currently owns 16 global research and development centers. Aside from those in China, it has extended its R&D teams into countries including the US, Sweden, France, the UK, South Korea, Japan, and India.