With more than 100 millon smartphone shipments recorded in 2015, Huawei is confident of its ambition to topple its rivals, even as tech giants like Samsung and Apple are struggling with the tough competition in the smartphone market.

“We hope that in three years our market share can be top two and in five years our market share can be top one,” Richard Yu, chief executive at Huawei Consumer Business Group, told CNBC in an interview at MWC 2016.

Currently, Huawei is the world’s third largest smartphone seller after Samsung and Apple. However, with the stable growth in its smartphone shipment expected to continue -- the company saw a 44 percent increase in sales last year compared to 2014 and expects a 30 percent year-on-year growth in shipments in 2016 -- it may not be impossible for Huawei to surpass Apple in three years and topple Samsung by 2021.

The company is also planning to expand its reach in the US market to boost its smartphone market share, Yu told CNBC.

Related: Huawei launches MateBook to take on iPad Pro and Surface Book

Huawei launched its first Honor branded handset, the Honor 5X, in the United States on Jan. 31 this year. The Honor 5X is available at US$199.99 (AU$283). At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016, Huawei also globally launched its Mate 8 in 30 countries including Australia.

According to a recent report by Strategy Analytics, Samsung remains the market leader with 22 percent global smartphone market share. In Q4 2015, the Korean tech giant shipped 81.3 million smartphones across the globe as compared to 74.5 million units in Q4 2014. Apple, which holds the second position, shipped 74.8 million units with 18 percent market share in Q4 2015.

Related: Huawei partners with Leica to reinvent smartphone photography

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