Huawei is catching up with Apple in the smartphone market

Huawei delivered more than 21 million smartphones in the spring, an increase of 85 percent compared to the same period last year. If it continues this growth, Huawei will be the same size as Apple, the worldwide number two in the smartphone market, in a year.

Huawei currently ranks third in smartphone shipments behind Samsung and Apple, but the Chinese manufacturer is seeing its shipments grow faster than its larger competitors, according to information Huawei provided to Reuters. Over the past three quarters, Huawei’s shipments grew around 85 percent for two quarters compared to the same period a year earlier. Apple hasn’t seen its sales of iPhones grow that fast for years.

If Huawei continues this growth, it will sell around 39 million smartphones every three months in a year, about the same as Apple. This would break the dominant position of Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market. At its peak, Apple and Samsung jointly supplied more than half of the world’s smartphones.

Huawei is not the only Chinese manufacturer that is experiencing rapid growth. Xiaomi has seen its deliveries almost quadruple in recent months compared to the same period a year earlier. Other manufacturers such as LG and Sony are also seeing deliveries rise, but much less rapidly. LG delivered 14.5 million smartphones in the past three months.