Chinese smartphone maker and largest telco equipment maker Huawei had a good year in 2019, despite the US Ban. The firm was added to the so-called entity list that chocked the company of supplies and most importantly banned it from doing business with Google, one of its key partners in the smartphone business.
That did not stop the company from ranking second in the market in terms of sales, neither. The company managed to ship 240 million smartphones last year despite the difficult times that set on Mid-May.
But in 2020, the script changes entirely. Huawei expects its smartphone sales to drop in the tune of 20 percent. That is according to The Information, which spoke to several managers in the company’s consumer division cited as people familiar with the matter. The plunge is mainly expected due to the trade ban slammed to the company by the US government in May last year.
Huawei expects that sales will weaken this year due to poor sales in Europe and other global markets – where Google Mobile Services(GMS) do matter. The company expects that sales will be roughly 190 million in 2020, which is cut by almost 50 million, compared to 2019.
Huawei has much long been expecting difficult times for its smartphone business, but 2019 turn out better than they initially expected. That is justifiable since the company had already released several devices from its P and Y series, which propelled the company to continue riding on the green zone throughout the rest of the year.
The company also started releasing iterations to its previously certified phones, thus maintaining the previous issued ‘certification’ from Google.
Non-certified Huawei smartphones have been a tough sell on the global market as many people use Google’s portfolio of apps day in day out.
As a result, any smartphones that the company launched without Google ‘certification’ have been limited to a few markets. For instance, Huawei Mate 30 series was introduced in China and few select markets in Europe.
Despite the company’s undying efforts to find a GMS replacement, they haven’t tested the waters globally yet on how their phones will fair on without Google apps and services.
To sum up, Huawei’s next flagship phones (P40 and P40 Pro) are coming later this month, and this should be a real test how the consumers will take it when the phones lack the seemingly most crucial feature. Will it turn out as a pet peeve? Let’s wait and see.
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