Huawei: People are snapping up camera-centric P9 smartphones
The Chinese company says it sold more than 2.6 million of the phones in the first six weeks the gadgets were available.
- 2022 Eddie Award for a single article in consumer technology
Sales for new Huawei smartphones topped 2.6 million units after six weeks, the Chinese company announced Wednesday. The P9 and P9 Plus are popular with shoppers in China, France, Finland and Britain, the company said in a press release, and helped put Huawei's market share in the smartphone space at 8.5 percent.
The phones boast a partnership with the Leica camera brand and include a dual lens system that shoots in black and white as well as with a shallow depth of field.
Huawei touts its No. 3 spot in the global smartphone market. It faces competition from mighty giants, but some have stumbled recently.
Apple, for example, holds the No. 2 spot in the smartphone market with a 13.9 percent share in 2015, according to analyst firm IDC. In the first three days after it released its most recent iPhone models, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, in 2015, sales topped 13 million. But the company projected the first-ever drop in sales of the iPhone in April, as excitement about the phones has waned in light of fewer major updates to the devices.
Humanity's hunger for smartphones is only increasing, however, with the total market growing 13 percent in 2015. Huawei may be coming up from behind, considering it said Wednesday that its sales grew 64 percent since last year.
"These high-end devices are attracting more fans than ever before," said Richard Yu, CEO of the Huawei Consumer Business Group.