After beating Apple, HUAWEI wants to overtake Samsung by end of 2019

Just days after surpassing Apple as the second largest smartphone maker in the world, HUAWEI has announced its ambition to take the top spot. As reported by Bloomberg, Huawei’s consumer division chief Richard Yu said that he wants the company to achieve the goal by the fourth quarter of 2019.

According to Yu, HUAWEI aims for a market share of more than 20 percent. This would be quite a jump from the 15 percent market share that Counterpoint Research says the company recorded in the second quarter of 2018. According to the same research firm, Samsung is the current number one with a market share of 20 percent.

While HUAWEI still has a long way to go to become number one, you wouldn’t want to bet against it happening. In 2016, Yu spoke about the company’s goal to overtake Apple within two years. HUAWEI achieved this with months to spare.

However, while HUAWEI has been growing considerably in both the mid-tier and the high-end device market, both Samsung and Apple are likely to hit back in the coming months.

In its Q2 2018 earnings report, Samsung said it would continue to make its mid- and low-end models more competitive. This is a strategy that has reportedly already helped see it re-gain crucial market share in India. Should Samsung be able to reproduce similar results in China, where it currently has less than one percent market share, it could make things much more difficult for HUAWEI.

Additionally, Apple is expected to release it’s latest iPhone models in the coming months and rumors even suggest it’s planning to release a new mid-range device to replace the iPhone SE. Should Apple’s new models be succesful, HUAWEI may struggle to even hold onto its position as the number two smartphone maker.

Next up: Here are the best HUAWEI phones you can buy right now