Huawei overtakes Apple, becomes 2nd biggest smartphone maker in the world

Huawei's been steadily gaining on Apple and Samsung Electronics Co with an increasingly high-end line-up of devices, particularly in its home market of China

Huawei Technologies Co. overtook Apple Inc. to claim the No. 2 spot in smartphones in the first quarter, moving a step closer to its avowed ambition of displacing Samsung at the top of the market.

The networking giant, shrugging off a barrage of accusations that it aids Chinese espionage (which it’s repeatedly denied), grew shipments 50 percent from a year earlier, research firm IDC estimates. It was the only name in the top 4 that managed to expand volumes as the overall market slid for the sixth consecutive quarter.
 

Huawei’s been steadily gaining on Apple and Samsung Electronics Co with