Not too long ago, Huawei was one of the leading companies in the smartphone world that regularly pushed boundaries for technological advancement. But after the US trade ban, Huawei took a hit and mostly limited itself to its home country of China. But recent reports suggest the company is planning to make its global comeback. Let’s discuss more about the return of Huawei in the global smartphone market.
Huawei to return to the global smartphone market?
What was?
It’s no secret that Huawei used to be one biggest smartphone makers in the world. So much so that, it had established itself as a chief rival to both Apple and Samsung. Huawei had even overtaken Apple to become the second-largest smartphone company at one time, trailing just behind Samsung.
Furthermore, Huawei was also gaining in on the competition in the chip business and the 5G sector. All this is to say that Huawei was a BIG DEAL!
What happened?
If I were to answer that in two words, politics happened. The US and China don’t like each other — never have and probably never will. Yet another open secret. As two of the largest economies in the world with opposing political standpoints, the US and China are in this constant limbo of trying to one-up each other. Or one-down each other, depending on who you ask.
But the cracks began to show for Huawei based on its very foundation, actually. Because Huawei’s founder was a former officer in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and the fact that China passed the National Intelligence Law which would allow the government to access the data of these Chinese companies when asked for, it sent blaring alarm bells to the US government. Then there’s the whole “stealing IP (Intellectual Property), violating international sanctions” spiel Huawei was accused of.
And since Huawei’s technological grasp was sizeable — especially in the telecommunications sector — with the potential for the Chinese government to exploit it. The US government considered it a security risk and put Huawei on the “Entity List” in May 2019. This effectively cut it from doing business with any US-owned company without getting the “OK” from the US government itself. This resulted in companies such as Google, Qualcomm, TSMC, Intel, and so on cutting ties with Huawei.
Needless to say, this impeded Huawei’s technological progress quite significantly. The company could no longer ship its smartphones with Google apps, which wasn’t much of a problem in China. But for the global market, it was a serious dealbreaker. Additionally, it could neither buy 5G chips from Qualcomm nor partner with the Taiwanese giant TSMC for its chipmaking duties.
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What’s Huawei cooking for its return?
As a result, Huawei’s market share began declining — rapidly — in the global smartphone scene. The company even ended up selling its subsidiary brand “Honor” to curb the US ban in a way. But now, reports have emerged stating that Huawei is finally making a proper international return and it’s causing quite a stir. And why wouldn’t it? But the question is just how has Huawei gained the confidence to return to the global market yet again?
Well, that alleged confidence mostly boils down to the success of the new Mate 60 series. Despite its quiet announcement with little to no fanfare, Huawei’s latest flagship phones became a huge hit in China.
China’s recent decision to ban iPhones from state officials and government officials might also have something to do with this success but it doesn’t matter. Huawei will take this win regardless. Estimations say that the Mate 60 series could sell 10 to 12 million units. And even go up to 17 million if the trend continues.
Huawei’s latest flagships have even garnered curiosity from tech enthusiasts worldwide. Mostly because of the custom Kirin 9000S chip these phones are powered by, which reportedly has 5G capabilities and is fabbed under a relatively modern 7nm process. Both of which are among the very things the US government has been trying to keep Huawei from achieving.
Whereas reports suggest that Huawei has managed to source 90% of the components locally for these smartphones, further shying away from its dependence on the West. This means that despite the infamous US ban, Huawei has managed to power through. Quite heroically.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Huawei has finally managed to come up with powerful new smartphones that defy all the odds. This, mixed with the roaring success of the Mate 60 series in China seems to have given Huawei just enough confidence to once again compete with the big guns in the global scenario.
Then again, hardware alone is nowhere near enough to convince consumers outside of China to buy a Huawei phone since — as mentioned before — they famously lack Google apps. Huawei has been making big strides with its own “Harmony OS” in terms of app availability and whatnot, aiming to compete against the likes of Android and iOS, but that’s another uphill battle in itself.
- Check out how Huawei prepared itself after the US ban
