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Cape Town – Chinese manufacturer Huawei announced on Tuesday that it had shipped 100 million smartphones in 2015.
The company said that the number represented a 3 000% increase over 2010 and comes on the back of research and development investment.
“The smartphone landscape is constantly changing as people look for devices that let them extend the boundaries of what’s possible. We look forward to continued growth in 2016 as we expand our product portfolio and partner with some of the world’s top brands to bring the best devices to market,” Kevin Ho, president of Huawei Consumer Business Group Handset, said in a statement.
Long associated with lower priced products, Huawei has ramped up efforts to target a higher consumer market.
It reported a 30% increase in shipping mid- to higher-end smartphones, including 4 million P8 and 6.5 million Mate 7 devices.
Cooling market but robust Africa growth
READ: Samsung entrenches its SA smartphone dominance
“These results directly reflect the consumer demand for our products, and we’re proud to deliver premium smartphone devices to people around the world,” said Ho.
But data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that the smartphone market is cooling.
The IDC found that worldwide smartphone shipments will grow 9.8% in 2015 to a total of 1.43 billion units. However, the organisation said that Africa would experience robust growth of 50%.
“With the other regions slowing down, Africa has become very crucial to manufacturers. Africa's smartphone market is expected to grow, especially the low priced smartphone. However, the key for success in Africa will be to launch the right product at the right price point,” Joseph Hlongwane, research analyst for IDC Africa, recently told Fin24
IDC data showed that Huawei has a 6.9% market share in South Africa, behind leader Samsung at 56.6%.
The Chinese company is determined to increase its presence in Africa and in 2014 invested 14.2% or $6.3bn in R&D.
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