Huawei overtakes LG to nab third place in global smartphone market

China is currently the world’s largest smartphone market, and the latest report from Strategy Analytics has helped reconfirm this. While mapping the third quarter global market share estimates, the report states that Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has jumped over LG since the last quarter. The company is now the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, accounting for 5.1 percent of overall global smartphone sales.

Researchers behind the report have said that Huawei’s global shipments grew by 67 percent annually to stand at 12.7 million units being shipped out in the third quarter of this year. The main reason for this success is the increased popularity of the Ascend P6 and the G610 models. The company also has a strong hold on its home ground, but its position is weaker in markets like the US and Europe.

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What is interesting about this jump up is that LG also saw a strong performance this quarter, shipping out 12 million smartphones and capturing 5 percent of the market share. The only difference between the two companies seems to be the fact that Huawei is growing faster, a fact that can only be attributed to its strength in the Chinese market. The fourth quarter, though, may come with different results, given that LG’s recently released G2 smartphone has been getting good reviews so far.

The rest of the report comes with expected information. Smartphone giant Samsung grew by 55 percent annually and rolled out a massive 88.4 million smartphones. The company now accounts for 35 percent of the total market share worldwide. The company, in fact, sent out more than twice the number of smartphones shipped by its competitor Apple, which rolled out 33.8 million iPhone worldwide. Overall, the global smartphone market has grown by 45 percent annually to stand at 251 million units being shipped in the third quarter of 2013.

Image data gathered from Strategy Analytics