(Telecompaper) Huawei announced that sales at its Consumer Business Group, selling handsets and other mobile devices, exceeded USD 2 billion in Western Europe in 2015, an increase of 45 percent from the previous year. Huawei said the success reinforces its strategy to focus on the high end of the market, with smartphones like the P8 and Mate S. The company said it will step up its R&D efforts "to provide an outstanding hardware and software experience". Citing data from GfK, Huawei said its smartphone market share reached 10 percent in Italy in October and 13.8 percent in Spain, including 55 percent of the high-end market (EUR 400-500) in Spain. According to the latest smartphone sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, Huawei is now the second-largest Android brand in the top five Western European countries. Huawei's own research found that 64 percent of people in Western Europe are now aware of its brand.