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China's Huawei Technologies overtook Apple Inc to become the world's second largest smartphone seller in the the 2nd quarter, data from market research firms showed, as it gained ground in Europe and expanded its lead back home.
Selling millions of budget friendly phones has worked well for Huawei in the Asia Pacific region, where its sales more than doubled compared with the same quarter last year, according to IHS Markit.
Huawei shipped 54.2 million phones in this quarter, 41 percent more than last year, and jumped ahead of the iPhone maker Apple for the first time. Huawei accounted for 16 percent of the market, compared with 21 percent for South Korea's Samsung and 12 percent for Apple. Xiaomi Corp and Oppo, both based in China, rounded out the top five.
IDC noted that it was the first time Apple had not been the number one or number two smartphone company in terms of market share since the second quarter of 2010.
The continued growth of Huawei is impressive, to say the least, as is its ability to move into markets where, until recently, the brand was largely unknown.
said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDCs Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.
 Chinese smartphone makers have been gaining influence as their domestic market grows and they expand abroad. Huawei has been expanding aggressively in Europe and Africa, though it is not allowed to enter the US and Australia.
 The Chinese smartphone and telecom equipment maker has struggled to gain a hold in the United States, mainly because of official concerns that its technology could be used by the Chinese government to spy and gather intelligence.
Despite its failure to strike a US carrier partnership the company has turned around quickly, moving away from its drive for profitability and focusing instead on finding volume growth at the low end
Mo Jia, an analyst with Canalys, said in a statement.
Huawei is one of several companies racing to develop capabilities for 5G, the next generation of wireless technology.
