There was a time when Huawei phones were associated with cheap, substandard handsets that are nigh-disposable. Just a few years ago, the firm's products were just that - cheap, low quality, and otherwise forgettable. Today, however, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has become a serious contender in the mobile device market, its prominence proven by its 8.3 percent market share in worldwide sales.

In fact, if the smartphone maker continues on its pace, it might very well end up toppling the world's top two brands, Samsung and Apple. While it is true that the South Korean tech behemoth and the Cupertino-based giant have been at the top of the smartphone pyramid for a very long time, the steady progress of Huawei, now the world's no. 3 smartphone brand, is slowly becoming a cloud over the dominance of Samsung and Apple.

Analysts believe that the secret to Huawei's recent successes lies in a bold plan that saw the smartphone maker reinvent itself into a firm that must be taken seriously. Creating premium handsets that rival and even exceed the most popular products of its competitors, Huawei started being perceived by the market as a formidable brand. In time, Huawei became the ideal third option for consumers who would like to explore beyond what Apple and Samsung could offer.

The firm's growth has been very visible so far, with the company selling a total of 108 million smartphones last year. Though the number is still far behind Samsung's 324 million and Apple's 231 million, current trends in smartphone sales have shown Huawei's numbers steadily increasing. On the other hand, Samsung's sales have been stagnating for a while now, and Apple's sales are actually on the decline, thanks to the relatively lackluster performance of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

Huawei has gotten far more aggressive lately, too. Recently, the Chinese firm filed a case against Samsung, alleging that the South Korean tech giant infringed on its patents by using its 4G technology without proper license. Notably, Huawei's lawsuit echoes a previous infringement claim from Apple, which also alleged that Samsung copied some of its smartphone designs.

The next few years might indeed see the emergence of a new smartphone king. 

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