Huawei made rapid progress in the EMEA smartphone market during Q4, IDC reported, with shipments from the Chinese vendor up 74 per cent year-on-year to 20.9 million units.

The research company’s Q4 2018 report said Samsung maintained its position at the head of the EMEA smartphone market in terms of shipments, but was being gained-on by Huawei in second place.

In the last three months of 2018 Samsung shipped 27.7 million units, almost 4 per cent down on the same period of 2017.

Samsung’s market share stood at 28 per cent in Q4 with Huawei holding a 21 per cent share, up from just 12 per cent at the close of 2017. Figures for Huawei include sub-brand Honor.

Apple had the third largest share, shipping 16.4 million units, down almost 15 per cent year-on-year. China-based Transsion, which owns brands Tecno, Infinix and Itel, made-up the top five alongside Xiaomi.

Total smartphone shipments in EMEA for the period were broadly flat year-on-year at 98.8 million. IDC predicts a slight decline across the region in 2019, mostly a result of market conditions in Western, Central and Eastern Europe with the Middle East and Africa expected to report almost 3 per cent growth.

IDC EMEA research manager Marta Pinto said: “In the European Union and EEA (European Economic Area), a key market for Huawei, the company came close to overtaking Samsung.”

“Eyes in the industry have been on Huawei, to see how much it would grow, but also on Apple, to see how much it might fall after the company’s recent profit warning. In this context, Apple had a reasonable quarter, though not as strong as the fourth quarter in 2017,” she added.