Huawei ended 2015 with more than 108 million smartphones shipped

Chinese technology giant Huawei has exceeded its target of shipping 100 million smartphones for calendar 2015, managing to ship 108 million smartphones in total and achieving revenue of more than $20 billion. Announcing its results for calendar 2015 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Huawei said its revenue saw an increase of almost 70 percent over 2014, with smartphone shipments up 44 percent from the previous year. Huawei holds the most market share in China, and also ranks in the top three for the high-end smartphone sector in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, and other Western European countries. According to Huawei, it also increased its brand awareness substantially in Europe throughout 2015 — by 68 percent in Germany, 73 percent in the Netherlands, 82 percent in Italy, 79 percent in Spain, and 87 percent in Portugal. Huawei attributed its high-performing results to continued investment in innovation as well as research and development, having invested 14.2 percent of its 2014 revenue in R&D while securing 76,687 patents. The company also announced plans to invest an extra $600 million into 5G technology research and development so it can launch its 5G network by 2020, which will be 100 times faster than speeds reached on 4G.