Chinese smartphone maker Huawei shipped 118 million smartphones in the first half of 2019.
That number represents a 24% increase year-over-year with an unspecified “rapid growth” also being experienced in the other devices the company’s Consumer Business Group also sells like wearables, tablets and PCs.
This closely matches the entire company’s 23% increase in revenue year-over-year.
As revealed yesterday as the company announced its business results for the first half for the year, just like in 2018 when it first took over the mantle from the company’s network business, Huawei’s Consumer Business Group which handles its mobile devices business (and includes sub-brand Honor) had the most revenue, at USD 32 billion, compared to the former’s USD 21 billion.
While the numbers are impressive, overall, they are not indicative of the turbulence that has rocked the company since May when the United States government blacklisted it and barred US companies from trading with it as the country’s trade war with Huawei’s motherland escalated. Even though that may have been reflected in the company’s Q2 showing, it will probably be more visible at the end of the year.
Or maybe not. Even though it remains on the Entity List, things are looking up for its relationships with US-based companies following talks between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart last month.
The company had earlier announced that it had crossed the 100 million smartphones shipment mark this year by May 30th with the company’s flagship P30 smartphone series managing to sell 10 million units in its first 85 days on the market, 62 days less than the P20 series last year.
This implies that just like last year, Huawei has been catapulted to the top 2 position among smartphone makers not only by its shiny flagship smartphones that often push the boundaries of technology but also by the tens of millions of low-cost smartphones it sells around the world. In Kenya, for instance, for about a year, the company has been releasing one Y series smartphone after another with none costing more than Kshs 25,000 (official RRP), a sweet spot for many.
In other countries, the same is true of devices from the Nova series as well as sub-brand Honor.
In an interview withYahoo Finance, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said that the company targets to ship 270 million smartphones this year, a very lofty and ambitious target given the overall industry trend of smartphone shipments declining every year – and this year things are not expected to be any different.
Last year, Huawei is said to have shipped 206 million smartphones.
Huawei is gearing up to release new devices in coming months ranging from TVs to the eagerly awaited successors to last year’s Mate 20 series. While its smartphones are expected to continue running on Android, the company’s much-touted “Android replacement”, Hongmeng OS, looks to be headed to the other devices in the pipeline like the televisions.
