Huawei Technologies Co Ltd grew its half-year smartphone shipments 25 percent to 60.56 million units, thanks to its increased efforts to expand global retail channels and the growing popularity of its high-end devices in overseas markets.

The robust performance highlighted that the world's third-largest smartphone vendor has maintained strong momentum despite the slowing global demand and the mounting competition from rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, experts said.

The Shenzhen-based company said on Tuesday that its consumer business unit raked in 77.4 billion yuan ($11.6 billion) in revenue in the first six months, up by 41 percent compared with a year earlier.