Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business group (pictured), used his Sina Weibo account to update on the strategic goals for the unit stating that, along with its Honor youth brand, it is “likely to become the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer this year”.

In addition to his vision of Huawei as the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, he sees Honor as the second biggest player in China and fourth in the world. Honor has previously stated lofty goals of its own and, in some markets, is already a top player in its own right.

Figures from IDC showed Huawei shipped 60.5 million smartphones worldwide in the last quarter of 2018, behind Apple (68.4 million) and Samsung (70.4 million). But both Apple and Samsung suffered shipment declines (11.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively) while Huawei racked up growth of 43.9 per cent in a market which also shrank overall.

Last week Huawei reported strong growth for its consumer unit in 2018, which overtook its carrier networks business to become the company’s biggest revenue generator. It shipped 206 million smartphones across the Huawei and Honor brands, up 35 per cent year-on-year.

Yu said Huawei would support Honor in the development of “cutting-edge products” and continue investments in areas such as technology innovation, channel distribution and retail strategy, while maintaining the dual-brand strategy between Huawei and Honor.

While Yu is known for making bold statements, Honor pointed to seven pledges he made in 2012, all of which were subsequently met. This included the transition to an independent OEM brand; a move away from low-end devices; the creation of an e-commerce business; and the creation of a new user interface.