X

Huawei revenue up 30% on smartphone, equipment growth

The company's announcement follows a report from research firm TrendForce revealing that Huawei is now China's top smartphone brand.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
2 min read

The Huawei Ascend Mate 7 is one of the mobile devices driving the company's growth in 2015. Andrew Hoyle/CNET

China-based Huawei had a "healthy" first half of the year.

Huawei, which builds both smartphones and telecommunications equipment, including products used for cellular calls and data transfer, generated 175.9 billion yuan (about $28.3 billion) in revenue during the first six months of 2015, soaring 30 percent compared to the same period last year. Huawei reported that its operating margin -- a measure of its revenue and the costs of goods sold -- stood at 18 percent. The company didn't report its net income.

Huawei, one of the largest private companies in China, sells telecommunications equipment all over the world. In the telecommunications industry, Huawei has a range of competitors, including Ericsson and Nokia. The company also sells a range of mid- and high-end smartphones -- including the Mate 7 and P8 -- which face competition from local rivals like Xiaomi and worldwide contenders, including Apple and Samsung. Despite the competition, Huawei's earnings released Monday seem to show the company faring quite well.

Huawei's smartphones have proven to be particularly popular. Huawei is now the world's third-largest smartphone maker in the world, nabbing 7.6 percent of the space in the second quarter of 2015, data released on Monday by research firm TrendForce shows. Huawei is behind Samsung and Apple, which secured 26.8 percent and 16.4 percent of the global smartphone market, respectively.

In the critical market of China, however, Huawei is on top with 18.3 percent market share, according to TrendForce. Xiaomi, another China-based smartphone maker, took the second spot with 14.3 percent share.

As a private company, Huawei is not forced to release detailed financial and sales data. The company on Monday did not say how many devices it sold during the first half of the year.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, did say its smartphone operation has "made solid progress," adding that it's "helping us guarantee quality and sustainable growth in the consumer business." Meng added that Huawei's networking equipment business was also seeing strong growth.

"With Huawei's well-balanced, worldwide presence, we are confident that we will maintain effective growth and steady and healthy development in all business segments in 2015," Meng said.

Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for more details on its performance in the first half of the year.