Huawei wants to be world leader in smartphones in 'three or four years'

Chinese electronics giant Huawei hopes to overtake US rival Apple and Korea's Samsung to become the world's leading maker of smartphones in "three or four years," a top executive said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday.

Asked by the daily Die Welt whether Huawei was satisfied in being the current number three, Huawei's consumer devices chief, Richard Yu, replied: "No. We'll move up to number two and then number one very quickly. At the end, we'll be the world leader."

Asked about the time frame for such an ambition, Yu said: "Perhaps in three or four years."

At the end of December, the group's chief Guo Ping said revenues rose 35 percent in 2015, driven largely by smartphone sales which topped the 100 million level.

Huawei this week unveiled its new flagship smartphone called Mate 8 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Samsung was the biggest rival in the immediate term, Apple in the longer term, Yu said.

"We sell more devices than Samsung on the Chinese market," he said.

"But Apple is the leader in the premium segment."