According to CNBC, Huawei has slipped out of the top five smartphone manufacturers in the world by shipments for the first time in six years. The Chinese tech giant has reported shipments of 33 million units in Q4 2020, down 41% compared to Q4 2019.
The data comes from Counterpoint Research data released late last week.
According to the analytics firm, Huawei currently ranks sixth among the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world by shipments, lagging behind Oppo and Vivo — its direct competition in the Chinese market.
Apple currently dominates the smartphone market by shipments, with over 90.1 million iPhones shipped and record revenue during the quarter that ended in December.
As of the end of 2020, Huawei only commands 8% of the global smartphone market. At one point during the year, however, Huawei reigned supreme and ranked as the No. 1 smartphone vendor in the world by shipments.
That was before U.S. sanctions cut off massive circulation to the Chinese company, adding it to the Entity List and preventing U.S. based companies from trading with it.
The decision resulted in Huawei losing access to Google’s Android platform and other services, along with key smartphone components, dealing a massive blow to the smartphone manufacturer.
Huawei has already been forced to let go of its Honor brand as a result of the sanctions, and rumours suggest the company might be looking to sell off its flagship Mate and P brands as well.
However, Huawei has said that there “is no merit to these rumours” and that the company remains “fully committed” to its range of smartphones.
The company’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou, recently saw her request to see loosen bail terms rejected by a Canadian judge ruling on Friday. Meng is currently in Vancouver, B.C., fighting a U.S. extradition case. She was arrested at the city’s airport in December 2018.
China consequently detained two Canadian men in response to her arrest, with both still in a Chinese jail, while Meng sees her house arrest in her million-dollar mansion on Vancouver’s westside.
