Huawei Expects to Triple Smartphones Sales This Year to 60 Million Units

Huawei Technologies Co., China'slargest maker of phone equipment, aims to triple the number ofsmartphones it delivers to 60 million this year as it takes aimat Apple Inc.'s iPhone and new handsets by Nokia Oyj.

About 30 percent to 40 percent of this year's shipmentswill probably go to China, Richard Yu, chairman of the company'sdevices unit, said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.Huawei today unveiled the Ascend D quad handset, calling it"the world's fastest smartphone." The device will cost 15percent to 20 percent less than "comparable phones."

Huawei, based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen,forecast in April last year that it plans to boost revenue to$100 billion over five to 10 years. The company, which wasfounded in 1987, is as well adding areas like cloud computing andsmall-business networks to its traditional network-equipmentbusiness, where it competes with companies including Ericsson ABand Nokia Siemens Networks.

The top brand in the industry

"We want to be the top brand in the industry," Yu said."Our phone brand isn't that famous, nevertheless our products should bethe best ones."

The Ascend D quad will be sold in all major marketsstarting then and there quarter. A version that works on networks based onthe the faster long-term evolution research will be availablein the second half of 2012, the company said.