Just eight months ago, Huawei reached its longtime goal of becoming the world’s biggest smartphone maker.
On Wednesday, the Chinese tech giant acknowledged that its smartphone business was suffering as US sanctions continue to stifle its growth, cutting off the company’s ability to obtain critical components for its devices.
“Because of the unfair sanctions placed on us by the US, our mobile phone business saw a revenue decline,” Huawei chairman Ken Hu said at a press conference in Shenzhen following the release of the company’s latest earnings report.
According to data from Gartner and Counterpoint, Huawei is no longer the market leader in China, let alone globally.
Sales of Huawei’s other consumer electronics — including laptops, tablets and wearable devices -— jumped 65% last year compared to 2019.
Huawei has expanded its lineup of connected devices in recent years, and the latest results gives “us more confidence in our strategy,” Hu said.
And the company posted 64. 6 billion yuan ($9. 9 billion) in net profit — the highest level it has ever seen, according to a Huawei spokesperson.
Huawei was able to maintain growth because of a range of measures it took to shore up its business, including diversifying its supply chain, he added.
In recent months, local rivals Oppo and Xiaomi have unseated Huawei, both as the top smartphone maker in China and the most popular Chinese vendor globally, respectively.
