China's Huawei pips US Apple to be world's No 2 handset seller

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has claimed to have overtaken iPhone maker Apple in global sales volume in December 2016 to become the second largest handset company globally after Samsung.

"Huawei overtook Apple in global sales volume share in December," Huawei India Director for Product Centre Allen Wang said.

He said the company's share in December 2016 reached 13.2 per cent globally whereas Apple was in the range of 12 per cent. The company claims to have shipped 139 million smartphones last year.

Though Samsung leads the global market in volumes, Huawei has overtaken the Korean technology major in some markets, Wang said.

He declined to share additional details on global market share but said that the company has set target to achieve 10 per cent smartphone market share in India.

"Honor (Huawei's online smartphone brand) has now become world's number one online brand," he said.

The brand is now selling across 74 countries including India. "In India, we are selling Huawei phones, including Honor, across 10,000 retail counters and continuously expanding it. Every quarter, we have plans to launch one new Honor series phone to give more choice to consumers," Wang said.