Huawei regains momentum in Chinese smartphone market

Huawei has started regaining its position in the Chinese smartphone market. The company lost its value following the U.S. sanctions years back. Although it seems the situations are finally changing for good and in the favor of the company.

Before we look at how Huawei is progressing, let’s check the background of this story.

At the onset of 2019, Huawei had been performing great in both the Chinese and global phone franchises. The company was even expected to snatch the crown of the world’s largest phone maker from Samsung by the end of the respective year.

But all these predictions were shattered when Huawei was hit by the U.S. sanctions in May 2019. As per the U.S. government, the company was a big threat to consumers’ privacy. It blamed the Chinese firm for using its products to pry other countries’ data.

Following these accusations, the U.S. put Huawei on the Entity List which means, the company won’t export or import products to the U.S. This also marked an end to the supply of advanced chipmaking tools from the U.S. due to which, Huawei is still struggling to make powerful Kirin chips.

These problems not only slowed down Huawei in the Chinese phone market but also made it difficult to rise again. Yet, the OEM didn’t give up and continued to find ways that help it stand again in its home ground and revive its smartphone business.

The Chinese phone maker started meeting new partners and suppliers in the native region. Huawei began using new Chinese parts rather than foreign components for its devices. It focused on the R&D investment as well as 5G network tech in China.

Huawei Midea’s 5G factory has an AI inspection room (Image Credits: Huawei)

Back in competition

After four years of hustle and bustle, Huawei finally surprised the U.S. authorities and its consumers with Mate 60 Pro release in August 2023. The new device equipped with a Kirin 5G chipset immediately resulted in strong and fruitful sales performance.

Mate 60 Pro even helped the company to enter the top three global premium smartphone makers list in 2023. The condition became better when Huawei claimed the first position in China smartphone sales within the first two weeks of 2024.

The success of Mate 60 models gave Huawei a new hope to recover its smartphone business in China. The OEM stopped promoting its Kirin chips officially, keeping it mysterious till the device’s launch. This helped the firm to work efficiently on its processors.

Huawei Mate 60 Pro (Image Credits: Huawei/Weibo)

Powerful chips and new techs

In 2024, the firm introduced new devices like the Nova 12 series, Pocket 2 foldable, and the ultimate Pura 70 smartphones with a Kirin 9010 chip. At the same time, the company imposed new AI features on these handsets, making them better than their rivals.

Apart from chipsets, Huawei also focused on implementing new techs into its devices. Satellite communication is the perfect example of this subject. The company has upgraded this capability with Nova 12 and made it even better with the Pura 70 series.

Kirin chipset (Image Credits: HiSilicon Kirin)

Hope of Business Recovery

Canalys reported that Huawei is surging in the Chinese smartphone market. Thanks to excellent lineups like Pura 70 and Nova 12. The innovative features and new Kirin 5G chips in these flagships significantly grabbed consumers’ attention and support.

Huawei is also pushing back its opponents like Apple in this race with better imaging capabilities, smoother software features, and interesting capabilities that are still missing from many of the flagship phones in the market.

Despite several challenges and top competitors, the company is slowly but steadily getting back to the competition in its home ground. But it’s just the beginning!

Huawei is aiming to ship at least 10 million Pura 70 models this year and make a total of 60 million unit shipments. Mate 70 series is also in the queue and expected to arrive with better-than-ever upgrades and advanced Kirin 5G chipsets.

These points reflect that Huawei is finally returning to competition in the Chinese smartphone market!