Huawei Eyes World No. 1 Rank

China’s Huawei raised its forecast for full-year smartphone shipments to more than 200 million and said it could become the world’s top vendor of the devices in the final quarter of next year, Reuters reported. Huawei, which recently displaced Apple as the No. 2 smartphone vendor in the June quarter, expects full-year shipments to beat an initial target of 180 million after it shipped more than 95 million smartphones in the first half, consumer business group CEO Richard Yu said on Friday. “I think it’s no problem that we become the global No.2 next year; in Q4 next year, it’s possible we become No.1,” Yu told a Huawei media briefing at its headquarters in Shenzhen. He attributed the growth to strong sales in Europe and China, bolstered by premium products such as the p20 series, of which it has sold more than 9 million units since its launch four months ago. The Chinese market is key for Huawei as it has come under fire in the United States, Australia and other nations over concerns it could facilitate Chinese government spying, which it has repeatedly denied.