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Asif Iqbal
Doha
Chinese electronics giant Huawei plans to double its smart phone market share in Qatar to 20 percent by year-end, a top official of its distributor has said.
"At present we have a market share of 11 percent in Qatar and we are targeting to reach at least 20 percent by year-end," Ashraf NK, Manager Intertec Solutions, told Qatar Tribune at the opening of Huwaei's first dedicated showroom in the country.
According to Ashraf, the opening of the first exclusive showroom is to demonstrate the strong capability of Huawei to be the market leader in the country. He said the dedicated showroom is the first of its kind in the Middle East and more showrooms would be opened in the future.
The Intertec official said the people's perception of smartphones are changing now.
"Gone are the days when the iPhone was a status symbol. Now the iPhone is being used by all sections of the society. On the contrary, Huwaei has its own technology which is very appealing to all."
Globally, Huawei has the world's third largest smartphone shipments after Apple and Samsung, according to research by the International Data Corporation (IDC).
Another report recently said that Huawei's global sales were up 26.7 percent in 2016, while Samsung and Apple experienced sales declines of 4.3 percent.
On the other hand, sales growth pushed Huawei's smartphone market share to 8.9 percent, up from the previous period's 7.3 percent. Samsung's full-year market share fell to 20.5 percent while Apple's influence dropped from 15.9 percent to 14.4 percent.
In November 2016, Huawei set itself a goal to overtake Apple in two years.
Despite the substantial gap between Huawei, Apple and Samsung, the Chinese vendor is now largely considered to be the main competitor of the two giants.
Huawei's expansion into premium smartphones has seen it shrink the gap between it and Samsung during Q4 2016, a difference of 36 million units. In the same period last year, the gap between the two vendors was more than 50 million units.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, China's Ambassador to Qatar HE Li Chen and Intertec Group Managing Director Abdulla Khalifa Abdulla Turkey al Subaey inaugurated Intertec's first exclusive Huawei showroom in Qatar.
Speaking at the opening ceremony in Doha, Subaey said,"The Shenzhen, Guangdong, headquartered company has grown rapidly as a top quality global networking and telecommunications equipment and services group.
"Qatari citizens and expatriate residents will benefit from this new showroom that will deliver feature-loaded digital devices to suit all segments of the community."
He said the mutual relationship with its stakeholders would give them many opportunities to develop business and realise their goals.
"We see a world of growth and expansion in the years ahead of us.''
To celebrate Huawei's first-ever exclusive showroom in the Middle East, Intertec Group announced special inaugural prices on all purchases from the showroom.
Meanwhile, Huawei Consumer Business Group and Intertec Group unveiled four new digital gadgets including Huawei P10 and P10 Plus cell phones.
The two new additions to the P Series, co-engineered with Leica, come in striking colours. Both have built-in Leica front and back cameras with portrait features to make every shot a cover shot.
