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HUAWEI aims high despite trade ban, targets 270m smartphone shipments in 2019
Huawei has already confirmed that the U.S. trade ban against it resulted in a major drop in smartphone sales, but founder Ren Zhengfei thinks the company can still reach 270 million units shipped in 2019.
The HUAWEI founder revealed the shipment target in an interview with Yahoo Finance, and it’s actually higher than what the company expected before the trade ban took place. It was reported in February that HUAWEI expected 2019 smartphone shipments to come in between 250 and 260 million units.
The murky U.S. trade ban situation may make it difficult for HUAWEI to hit Ren’s new goal. In fact, Kantar’s Q2 2019 statistics showed that HUAWEI’s market-share was down by almost two percent quarter-on-quarter in five major European nations (the drop was thought to be related to the U.S./HUAWEI trade situation). Kantar’s data also showed that HUAWEI’s June market-share in these nations was down nine percent compared to the previous month.
There was some consolation though, as Kantar’s data also showed that HUAWEI’s market-share figures were up compared to Q2 2018 in these nations. Furthermore, the manufacturer confirmed that it shipped 100 million smartphones by May 31.
Kevin Ho, the president of HUAWEI’s handset business, also told Yahoo Finance that smartphone sales have “bounced back” since June. This news suggests that the initial panic and uncertainty regarding the ban has subsided. But one of the biggest tests will come when the company launches its Mate 30 series later this year.
Don’t expect a plan B
The HUAWEI founder also addressed talk of an alternative mobile operating system, saying the company doesn’t have any plans in this regard.
“We will only look into developing our own smartphone OS when Android is no longer an option, but as of now, we don’t plan on it,” Ren told the outlet, saying that its so-called HongMeng OS wasn’t for smartphones.
Ho reiterated HUAWEI’s lack of a plan B platform, saying any upcoming devices would likely be delayed if Android couldn’t run on them. “We are discussing this kind of issue, but right now we have only Plan A, to prepare the launch of our new products with Android,” the executive was quoted as saying.