Despite its ongoing struggles with the United States government, Huawei had a strong Q2 2020 and shipped more smartphones globally than any other manufacturer in the world, Canalys reports.

Huawei managed to ship 55.8 million units of smartphones which is still lesser by 5% compared to the same period last year; this is still higher than Samsung in second place which shipped 53.7 million units; a 30% fall within the same period in 2019. This will be the first time in nine years a vendor other than Samsung or Apple has led the market in a quarter.

Huawei currently sells more than 70% of its smartphones in mainland China this is mostly due to restrictions by US government in overseas market. Despite the pandemic that has rocked the world, China is steadily getting back to normalcy with factories reopened and its economy growing again.

“If it wasn’t for COVID-19, it wouldn’t have happened,” explains Ben Stanton, a Senior Analyst at Canalys. “Huawei has taken full advantage of the Chinese economic recovery to reignite its smartphone business. Samsung has a very small presence in China, with less than 1% market share, and has seen its core markets, such as Brazil, India, the United States and Europe, ravaged by outbreaks and subsequent lockdowns.”

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Huawei’s reign at the top is only expected to last for a short while once the global economy recovers. Its channel partners in key regions are wary of its struggles with the US and will only bring in small units while mixing it with other brands to mitigate risks.