A recent report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) has indicated a major shift in the smartphone market in Europe, which has seen drastic growth in the Chinese company’s sales over the course of the last year. Shipment figures show that Huawei has managed to increase its market share from nearly 15% to 25.39% in the period between the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, while another Chinese tech firm, Xiaomi, increased its share from 4% to 5.5% over the same timeframe.
Huawei's year-over-year unit sales have spiked by 66%, with the rapid growth coming ahead of the US crackdown on the company. At the same time, Apple's year-over-year unit sales have dropped by 22.73%, while Samsung has lost 6.82%.
Washington has barred Huawei's products from US territory, claiming that the company has allegedly been installing backdoors to help the Chinese government carry out espionage and cyberattacks, something that both Beijing and Huawei deny. Using security concerns as a pretext, the US has also banned domestic firms from providing technologies to the Chinese tech giant.
The move has led Google to cease Android support for all future Huawei devices and cut them off from its Play Market, as well as other services. In addition, US chip-makers have refused to continue shipping chips for Huawei's products. Some foreign firms, like ARM and Toshiba, have also cut their ties with Huawei, citing the presence of US-made technologies in their products.
Huawei has slammed Washington's decision and filed a suit against the US government. The move was supported by Beijing. In addition, China has released new guidelines that allow banning equipment that poses a national security risk from being imported to the country, something which some Chinese media outlets have suggested could be used to limit American firms' access to the Asian country’s market.
