By BLOOMBERG

SEOUL • Growing security concerns surrounding Huawei Technologies Co Ltd may help Samsung Electronics Co Ltd challenge the Chinese behemoth in the market for 5G wireless communications, an executive at the South Korean giant said.

While Samsung remains the world’s biggest smartphone and semiconductor maker, Huawei dominates networking by a large margin. But its market position is under threat as one country after another blocks the use of its 5G products, amid concerns they could be used to spy for the Chinese government. Huawei denies any role in espionage.

“Strategically, these concerns help us grab more market share,” S Abraham Kim, a VP at Samsung’s mobile division, said yesterday at a conference in Seoul. “Huawei has held dominance in the network market since the 4G LTE era, but we’re ahead on 5G technology that goes into smartphones.”

Samsung plans to release a 5G-capable handset along with a bendable-screen phone next year, and sees those gadgets as its best shot at reviving sales that have slowed as consumers wait longer to upgrade their smartphones.

But technical challenges remain, Kim said. 5G signals can get obstructed depending on how a phone is held, so that means the need to cram more antenna modules around a phone’s already limited real estate, alongside a large battery. Samsung is now studying how a device’s innards can be split into two layers while still minimising overall thickness, Kim said.