Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group recently announced that the company has shipped more than 10 million Huawei P9 and P9 Plus smartphones globally, making it the company’s first flagship series to top the 10 million mark.

This is a milestone for Huawei both from a product and brand perspective. Despite a sluggish global smartphone market in 2016, the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus devices have achieved impressive results in the premium segment; a breakthrough that proves Huawei’s investment in international markets is paying off.

First revealed in April 2016, the dual-lens Huawei P9 and P9 Plus devices were Huawei’s first flagship smartphones to be developed in collaboration with legendary German camera brand Leica. This extensive partnership has already set a new benchmark for advanced smartphone camera technology and delivered outstanding photography experiences to consumers.

Since launching, the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus have become an instant hit in the global smartphone market. Global shipments of the P9 exceeded 2.6 million within six weeks of their release. Eight months since its release, the Huawei P9 has sustained its popularity, winning recognition from both experts and consumers for its camera experience, industrial design and overall performance. In addition to winning major awards including European Consumer Smartphone 2016-17 from EISA and Best Personal Computing Device at CES Asia, the Huawei P9 has also received positive reviews from hundreds of key international publications, making it a top choice for consumers looking for the best camera phone.

Thanks to the huge popularity of the P9 and P9 Plus, as well as the strong sales performance of the Mate 8 and Mate 9 devices, Huawei is making significant progress in the global high-end smartphone market. In the third quarter of 2016, Huawei shipped 33.59 million smartphones, up 23% from the previous year, with mid-to-high-end devices accounting for about 44% of the shipment. So far, Huawei has shipped more than 1.2 million smartphones to South Africa, over 45 000 being the P9 and the P9 Plus this past year.

Huawei’s market share is now above 15% in 30 countries and above 20% in 20 countries; it also made substantial breakthroughs in key markets such as the UK, France and Germany. As of November 2016 Huawei has a value share in South Africa of 17.4% and 10.8% volume share. There has been a 43% growth rate in South Africa.

According to 2016 half year financial results, Huawei CBG sales were close to 77.4 billion RMB in the first half of year, up 41% from the same period in 2015; the growth rate in markets outside of China was 1.6 times that of the Greater China region.

Global awareness of the Huawei brand has continued to grow along with Huawei’s outstanding market performance. In 2016, Huawei was ranked No. 72 in Interbrand’s “Top 100” most valuable global brands list, 16 spots up from 2015. Huawei was again listed as one of the top 100 most valuable brands by Brand Z, at No.50 this year, up from No.70 in 2015. Additionally, in November, Huawei was named “Best Consumer Electronics Brand” in “Best Brands 2016 – the Chinese brand ranking” based on GfK’s consumer survey.