Huawei ships 27 million smartphones in Q3

Chinese hardware manufacturer Huawei has announced its results for the third quarter of 2015, with its Consumer Business Group reporting total shipments of 27.4 million smartphones for the three months to September 30, a jump of 63 percent year on year.

The company attributed its rise in smartphone shipments to increased interest in mid- and high-end devices, which accounted for 33 percent of total shipments -- an increase of seven percentage points quarter on quarter.

"This quarter's results clearly showcase the continued success of our growth strategy," Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer, said in a statement.

"We are especially proud of the stellar growth we've seen outside of China and the increased demand for our mid- to high-end devices. At this rate, we are confident in our ability to reach our smartphone shipment target of 100 million units by year's end."

The Chinese manufacturing giant was forecast in July to ship 100 million smartphones by the end of 2015, and has been edging closer to this each quarter.

By comparison, Huawei rival Xiaomi shipped only 18.5 million smartphones over the same quarter -- 8.9 million fewer than Huawei. Xiaomi had targeted shipping 80 million smartphones worldwide for 2015, but has shipped only 53.2 million handsets for the year as of September.

Xiaomi is "under tremendous pressure to keep growth as an international player as it is slowing down in its key home market", according to research firm Canalys.

Huawei smartphone shipments to Europe almost doubled, growing by 98 percent year on year, with the company's smartphones now holding 12.4 percent overall market share in Spain; 45.7 percent market share in Spain's high-end device sector; 10.9 percent overall market share in Italy; and 27.9 percent of high-end smartphone market share in Italy.

The Middle East and Africa region saw a substantial increase of 70 percent in shipments, while Chinese shipments grew by 81 percent year on year, holding 15.2 percent market share in China -- the number one position in the country.

Huawei's global market share had reached 9.5 percent as of the end of the quarter, placing it in the top three smartphone makers worldwide during January to August.

Since their respective launches, total shipments for the Huawei Mate 7 have reached 6.5 million units; the P7 has shipped 7.5 million units; and 4 million Huawei P8 smartphones have shipped. The high-end flagship Mate S, launched in September, is now available in 48 countries worldwide, including China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain.

The Huawei-built 5.7-inch Google Nexus 6P will also likely achieve a higher penetration rate for the company, with the smartphone available for pre-order now and set to hit store shelves in early November. The 6P was launched at a Google event in September.

The full-metal 6P sports a 5.7-inch 1440p display; an eight-core 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor with 3GB of RAM; a 3450mAh battery; a 12.3-megapixel rear camera; and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

Huawei in July announced fiscal results for the first half of 2015, generating revenue of 175.9 billion yuan ($28.3 billion), a year-on-year increase of 30 percent, with operating margins of 18 percent.

The company said all three of its business units -- enterprise, consumer, and carrier -- experienced growth in the six months until June, with mid- and high-end smartphones again carrying the company over the line.

"Huawei's mid-range and high-end smartphones ... have made solid progress, helping us guarantee quality and sustainable growth in the consumer business," Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou said at the time.

"Thanks to the extensive application of our cloud computing, storage, agile network, and other flagship products and solutions in the smart city, finance, education, and ISP markets in and outside of China, our growth in the enterprise business began to pick up in the first half of this year."

The Shenzhen-headquartered company said it also invested in research and development for software-defined networking, cloud computing, and 4G network construction throughout China. It also plans to launch its 5G network by 2020, which will be 100 times faster than speeds reached on 4G.

Last year, Huawei shipped 138 million devices, including 75 million smartphones, a 7.8 percent increase over its 2013 results.

Apple on Tuesday evening announced its own results for the quarter ending September 30, revealing iPhone sales of 48.02 million, an increase of 18.4 percent from the 39.2 million unit sales during the same quarter a year ago.