Huawei's chairman admits that US sanctions have stifled his smartphone business, but the company will not give up and plans to eventually return to the "throne" of the industry.
As is known in 2019, former US President Donald Trump accused Huawei of being a threat to national security, blocklisted it for exports, and banned it from accessing critical technology originating from the US. These restrictions severely affected the Shenzhen-based vendor's ability to design chips and components. Sourced from outside vendors.
“Everyone knows that cell phone chips require advanced technology in a small size with low power consumption. Huawei can design it, but no one can help us build it. We are stuck (as a result of the sanctions)," Huawei Chairman Guo Ping was quoted as saying in a transcript of a recent Q&A with staff, as reported by Reuters.
Guo added, however, that the problem was solvable.
"Huawei will continue to exist in the field of mobile phones, and with continuous progress in chip production, the smartphone throne will eventually return," he said.
Huawei, once the world's largest smartphone vendor, dropped out of China's top five sellers last quarter, for the first time in more than seven years, according to research firm Canalys.
In November last year, Huawei was forced to sell its low-end smartphone brand Honor – a move to keep the business alive. Huawei's revenue plunged 29% in the first half of the year, the biggest drop ever, with revenue from its consumer business group, including smartphones, falling 47% to 135.7 billion yuan ($21 billion).
Although the mobile phone business he is engaged in is limping, Huawei has consistently launched new flagship series. The vendor, who carries a logo that looks like a bright red flower, has launched the P50 Series on July 29, 2021. Like the previous generation, the P50 Series focuses on digital imaging. Excellence in camera technology has put vendors in a leading position in the competitive world smartphone market.
On the other hand, the decline in Huawei's performance has given Xiaomi an advantage. For the first time, Xiaomi was able to position itself as the second-largest vendor in the world based on handset shipments in the second quarter of 2021. With this achievement, Xiaomi has now surpassed Apple, which previously sat in that position. This is a remarkable achievement, considering that the manufacturer founded by Lei Jun and Lin Bin only entered the smartphone business in 2010.
According to a report by the technology research institute Canalys, Beijing-based Xiaomi captured 17% of the global market share, only slightly different from Samsung, which controlled 19%. Apple is now in third place with 14% in the quarter.
Completing the top five, two vendors are still "brothers" Oppo and Vivo. The duo of smartphone manufacturers, owned by Dongguan-based BBK Electronics, each have a 10% market share.
