Huawei taking on Apple and Samsung in smartphone wars

Huawei has vowed to become a frontrunner in the world of smartphones, taking on current market leaders Samsung and Apple in the next three years.

The company's head of consumer devices, Richard Yu, said it won't take long for the Chinese manufacturer to overtake Apple and Samsung on the smartphone leader board, thanks to its popularity in the Chinese market, where its smartphones are shipping more than any other manufacturer in the mid-range market.

"We sell more devices than Samsung on the Chinese market," Yu said. "But Apple is the leader in the premium segment."

Huawei is currently in third place for worldwide smartphone shipments, following a promising year where the manufacturer shipped 108 million devices - an increase of 44 per cent year-on-year.

When asked by German newspaper Die Welt whether Huawei is happy in third position, Yu replied: "No. We'll move up to number two and then number one very quickly. At the end, we'll be the world leader."

Huawei is now trying to strip its reputation of being a mid-range smartphone manufacturer and wants to be known for premium devices, just as Apple is known for the top-of-the-range iPhone.

Things are looking good for the Chinese manufacturer across the board. Revenues for Huawei's consumer business, which includes both smartphones and tablets, rather than the business arm, which makes chips and other computing components, grew 70 per cent year-on year last year, up to $20 billion (13.67 billion).

Currently, Samsung leads the smartphone leader board thanks to its range of top, middle and lower-tier devices, with 23.5 per cent of the share, versus Apple's 13.5 per cent according to IDC's latest smartphone shipments figures.

However, Apple's shipments may reduce over the next quarter as the company cuts back on production to give retailers the chance to sell off some of its existing stock of iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus handsets.