Samsung and Apple have both reported their first-quarter earnings, and smartphone sales, while solid, aren't a highlight for either company. That's a big change from just a few years ago where both OEMs managed to continuously sell more and more phones every year, but all things must come to an end.
Unless you're Huawei, anyway. They've managed to figure out how to keep growing where Apple and Samsung fall short.
Huawei and Apple have traded spots back and forth for the second largest smartphone manufacturer behind Samsung, but Huawei has finally closed that gap and padded their lead, all during quarters where the other two contenders have struggled.
And, keep this in mind, they're doing all of this while essentially fully ignoring the US market. Sure, you can buy and import Huawei phones in the US, but they're not available on any major carrier and you pretty much never see them in stores due to the US government's privacy concerns with the company. That's a feat no matter how you slice it.
Going further down the food chain things are looking even worse for other companies, unfortunately. While Huawei certainly is eating up market share from Apple and Samsung, the smaller fish like LG, HTC, and Sony are only getting squeezed even harder.
source: The Verge
