The Rise growth of Huawei

The Rise growth of Huawei

Following the Trump administration’s decision to blacklist Huawei, effectively banning U.S. companies from working with the Chinese tech giant, U.S. chipmakers Qualcomm, Intel and Broadcom have reportedly stopped supplying parts to the company headquartered in Shenzhen. The most significant blow to Huawei came from Google however, who reportedly revoked the company’s Android license and suspended any business that requires the transfer of hardware, software or technical services, in compliance with Trump’s executive order. 

Google’s decision marks a significant setback to Huawei’s smartphone ambitions, as it immediately bans the company from receiving future Android updates and using Google’s proprietary apps. While Huawei cannot be banned from using the open source version of Android to build its own operating system based on Android code, the lack of access to Google’s Play Store and its popular line of apps (incl. YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps among others) would severely limit the appeal of Huawei devices, especially for customers outside of China, where most of Google’s services are banned anyway. 

Having overtaken Apple as the world’s second largest smartphone vendor in the first quarter of 2019, Huawei’s rise in the smartphone market has been nothing short of impressive. According to Gartner, the company sold more than 200 million smartphones in 2018, accounting for 13 percent of global sales. Aside from its market leading position in China and large parts of Asia, Huawei has become one of the most popular smartphone brands in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East in recent years, though it has never made a breakthrough in the United States.

by Felix Richter, May 20, 2019

Huawei across the world

In March, we examined how restrictions and security concerns had (or hadn't) affected Huawei's popularity among smartphone users. This first chart shows growth in the four countries you'd expect to toe the US' line on such issues. It shows small but stable growth in the UK, Canada and even the US itself. Only in Australia did Huawei see a loss in overall market share.

With the political wrangling unlikely to end any time soon, we also looked at specific Huawei smartphones and how popular they've been in the UK throughout the last year or so.

Using DeviceAtlas data for each quarter of 2018, we can see a small but definite improvement in use of both the P10 and P20 range, as well as the P Smart. The charts below tell a story - a story the US and her allies may not want to hear.

In contrast, below are the same stats for the P10, P10 Lite and P Smart.

As expected, the older models (P10 range) are slowly going out of use as people upgrade, while the P Smart - Huawei's entry at the lower end of the smartphone price range - continues to gain in usage.

Huawei forge ahead

With so much flak coming from so many angles (some of it legitimate, much of it not so legitimate), credit must go to Huawei for maintaining their push to catch Samsung at the top of the list.

We certainly won't bet against it - the recently released P30 and P30 Pro have earned rave reviews for their impressive camera, in-screen fingerprint reader and general premium feel and performance.

Huawei grow further in 2019.

US to put pressure on UK government after leaked Huawei decision

Donald Trump’s administration is expected to put further pressure on the UK to reconsider the decision to allow Chinese telecoms company Huawei to help build parts of the UK’s 5G telecoms network.

The US has arranged for a representative from the state department, which has repeatedly warned of the risks of using Huawei, to give a briefing on Monday.

Robert Strayer, a deputy assistant secretary, who has been at the forefront of anti-Huawei lobbying, argued earlier this month that if countries adopt “risk-based security frameworks” it “will lead inevitably to the banning of Huawei”.

The latest US lobbying comes after the leak of a decision by the normally secret UK National Security Council, which agreed to allow Huawei to supply 5G technology after a contested meeting in which five cabinet members raised objections.

The decision at Tuesday’s NSC meeting was forced through, according to one source, on the casting vote of the prime minister with a formal announcement expected later in the spring once further technical safeguards had been prepared.

But while Downing Street may regard the Huawei decision as final there are signs that it could yet be reversed once Theresa May steps aside, with sources close to Boris Johnson indicating the former foreign secretary could be willing to “look again” at the Huawei approval if he were to become prime minister.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, was the first minister to publicly confirm that a leak inquiry had started, when asked about Huawei at an Chinese government investment forum in Beijing – and said it needed to be dealt with.

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