Huawei ships over 200 million smartphones, despite rough beginnings

Huawei had a rough 2018, but the company still has something to cheer about. The Chinese giant has revealed that it shipped over 200 million smartphones this year. This is a new record for the company it shipped 153 million phones in 2017.

The reasons behind the company's success are the occasional hits along the way, the flagships only played a partial role. The P20 and Mate 20 series did well, racking up the respective shipments of 16 million and 5 million devices. However, the most successful phones were from its Nova series, including the recently launched Nova 4.

The company claims to have sold 65 million of the mid-range phones since the inception of the series. Besides, the more budget-oriented brand Honor also helped to ramp up the shipments for the company.

Huawei didn't reveal specific numbers, but it touted the "outstanding performance" of the Honor 10 and Honor View 10 as major factors for its success. The number might surprise considering the daily stories about the CFO's arrest and device bans in the US.

Huawei has surged in recent months on the back of sales not just in China, but other countries. It doesn't require US sales, even if it's poised to expand its reach to the US. Also, many of these bans are aimed at networking equipment, not handsets.

Besides, many Chinese companies are coming in support for Huawei. These companies are offering incentives to their employees to buy Huawei products. Some companies have even simply gifted their employees Huawei smartphones.

Back in January, Huawei was said to announce that major mobile carriers in the US like AT&T and Verizon Wireless would power its flagship Mate 10 smartphones in the market. But the plans came to a halt as the telecom companies reportedly backed out due to concerns raised by the US government agencies regarding Huawei's relation with the Chinese authorities.