IDC has predicted that Chinese brand Huawei will overtake Apple in global market share either this year or next.
Huawei is already nipping at Apple’s heels, with an 11.3% share against Apple’s 12% – and IDC believes that a new AI chipset could boost sales of the Chinese brand enough to take the iPhone maker’s current second place in the rankings …
The A11 chip in this year’s iPhones includes dedicated AI circuitry, but Huawei claims to have gone one better with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit in the Kirin 970 chip that will power its next-generation phones.
Huawei already poked fun at the iPhone X with a rather cringeworthy video which claimed that the Mate 10, launched today, would be ‘the real AI phone.’
CNBC reports the IDC prediction.
Other analysts have predicted that Huawei might temporarily take Apple’s position, but only until iPhone 8 and X sales kick in. IDC, in contrast, believes the shift will be permanent.
Jeronimo says that the Kirin 970’s AI capabilities are key.
Should Huawei succeed in taking Apple’s #2 ranking in global market share, IDC believes that it will then have Samsung in its sights.
But despite the emphasis on making money as well as shipping boxes, Apple probably has little to fear. The Cupertino company has always focused on profits rather than revenue, taking home almost 80% of the total smartphone industry profits last year.
