Huawei to raise global share with new phones

Huawei Technologies, whose share of the global smartphone market rose, aims to boost its share in the mid- and high-end segment with new models equipped with self-developed chips, and through growing e-commerce channel.

Huawei, which will rebuild its brand, yesterday launched Honor 6 featuring a self-developed chip and dubbed as the world's fastest 4G phone to attract young users.

Honor 6, which costs 1,999 yuan ($321) for a 16-gigabyte model and 2,299 yuan for a 32GB model, features Huawei's chip that is "three times faster than iPhone 5S and twice faster than Samsung Galaxy 5," Liu Jiangfeng, president of Huawei's Honor brand, said in Beijing.

He declined to reveal Honor 6's sales target. But he said previously that Huawei planned to sell 20 million Honor phones and earn $100 million net profit in 2014.

Huawei's share of the global smartphone market rose to 5 percent at the end of March from 4 percent a year ago, said US-based research firm Strategy Analytics.

Huawei is also cooperating with JD.com to sell phones online and offering Internet services through tie-ups with Sohu.com and iQiyi as it expands in the e-commerce channel.