Huawei said on Thursday its consumer business sales exceeded $52 billion in 2018, registering around 50 percent growth, on strong demand for its premium smartphones.

The consumer business of Huawei Technologies will replace its carrier business as its largest segment by sales in 2018, Richard Yu, head of the Huawei consumer division, said during a press meet in Beijing.

Huawei has lost considerable business from telecom operators in the US and several other telecom markets in the wake of unprecedented security scrutiny on its networking products. Huawei said that it has no connection with China government and does not do any spy work for them.

Huawei last month said its total revenue increased 21 percent to $109 billion in 2018 without providing a breakdown of segment performance. The balance $57 billion revenue is from carrier business and enterprise business.

Honor, the e-brand from China’s Huawei, earlier announced its achievements in the global smartphone market in the first three quarters of 2018.

Honor smartphone shipments rose 27.1 percent. Honor now ranks first in market share in the mid and high-end online channel market.

The global smartphone market recorded a 3.1 percent decline in shipments in the first three quarters of 2018, says IDC.

Huawei Technologies rotating chairman Guo Ping earlier revealed that the company expects its smartphone shipments for 2018 to surpass 200 million units. Huawei is also expecting to record a 21 percent jump in revenue for 2018 to $109 billion.

Huawei’s consumer business unit accounted for 39.3 percent of Huawei’s total revenue in 2017.

Huawei overtook Apple to become the world’s second-biggest smartphone seller in the June quarter.

Huawei plans to add 10,000 retail stores around the world before the end of 2018. It plans to do internal testing of 5G phones in the fourth quarter of 2018 and launch the 5G smartphone next year.

Huawei on Thursday also unveiled its first 5G base station chipset called Tiangang as well as its 5G modem Balong 5000, which it described as the most powerful 5G modem in the world.

Yu said it was the world’s first 5G modem that fully supports both Non-Standalone (NSA) and Standalone (SA) 5G network architecture.

The firm has been using its chipsets in its high-end phones and server products, though it has said it has no intention to become a standalone semiconductor vendor that competes against the likes of Intel and Qualcomm, Reuters reported.