Huawei concedes it will not top global smartphone market this year

SHANGHAI -- The U.S.'s tougher stance against Huawei Technology has slowed the Chinese company's progress in overtaking Samsung as the world's largest smartphone maker, a senior Huawei executive suggested on Tuesday.

"If there were no surprises, we would have become the largest in the fourth quarter [of this year]. But now we feel this process may take a longer time," Shao Yang, chief strategy officer of Huawei Consumer Business Group, told participants at the CES Asia technology show in Shanghai on Tuesday.