Huawei's South African business is still booming, with the company holding Samsung's share in the overall smartphone market.
Speaking at a media event in Johannesburg, Huawei CTO Akhram Mohammed said that Huawei has seen rapid growth in both South Africa and its global market.
The company shipped 24% more units in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period last year, with a large volume of sales outside China.
In South Africa, Huawei's market share is now 37.9% for smartphones that cost $ 100 or more.
Additionally, the company's value share has increased from 18.2% in 2017 to 34.5% in the second quarter of 2019, while Samsung's price share has fallen from 48.9% to 40.8% in the same period.
Mohammed said that Huawei was still confident that it could overtake Samsung, as the company quickly reduced any lost sales due to rising tensions between the United States and China.
America's concern
In May 2019, Huawei was placed on the US entity list, which barred US companies from doing business with Huawei.
This had serious implications for the future of Huawei's smartphone business, as the company relies heavily on Google's Android operating system as well as various platforms and services from other US-based companies.
Before finally removing the ban, Huawei South Africa issued a statement to local smartphone owners, saying they would not be affected by the trade ban and thanked them for their dedication to the brand.
Mohammed said that Huawei's engagement with its customer base in South Africa directly led to its sales recovery, which put Samsung back on track as the country's largest smartphone brand.
"We are ahead of Apple and not far behind Samsung," Mohammed said. "It shows us that our products are loved and trusted in the local market."
He said the sales decline due to the US embargo lasted only a month before Huawei's smartphone volume recovered.
Mohammed said, "It was not that we just recovered, we reached similar levels." "Right now, our smartphones are being sold in stores as if nothing happened."
product offering
Despite the global conflict, Samsung continues to build a strong presence in South Africa, launching new devices in response to the recently launched Galaxy A-series lineup.
The company's Y9 Prime 2019 is aimed directly at the mid-range market, with key features such as a pop-up front-facing camera, bezel-less display, and triple-lens rear camera array.
Huawei is also upgrading its devices to EMUI 10 - the latest version of its mobile operating system based on Android 10.
The company also recently unveiled its new Harmony OS software, which it said should be launched immediately for its smartphone, should it be blocked from the Android ecosystem.
Harmony OS is not designed as an Android replacement; However, the software is an ambitious project aimed at providing a ubiquitous, distributed platform for all smart devices.
Now that the storm of US government's volatile decisions about Huawei has come to an end, the company is back on track in South Africa and its consumer confidence is higher than ever.
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