If we knew that it was going to be complicated for Huawei to become a smartphone giant again, we now have the impression that they no longer really want it. Its latest product presentation, as well as the statements of its president in Europe seem to confirm all this.
If you were looking for a sign to definitively convince you that Huawei has thrown in the towel on its smartphones, at least unofficially, the Chinese giant’s latest presentation should do the trick.
In a conference of nearly 45 minutes, only 12 minutes and 27 seconds were devoted to this previously flagship universe for the manufacturer. In this short time, only a smartphone has been presented. A phone which, moreover, will probably not be bought by anyone: foldable, without Google, all for the extravagant price of 2000 euros.
A conference dominated by watches
All the rest of the conference focused on a sector that is now much more buoyant for the company banned from the American market, wearables and more broadly the themes of health and well-being. Five products belonging to this field were presented, three watches, a connected bracelet, an activity tracker.
Huawei also seems to be looking for new growth drivers on the subscription sales side. On the software level, the manufacturer presented its future sports support service by subscription, Huawei Health +, currently reserved for Germany and Italy.
An economic situation at half mast
Faced with these assertions, you may be thinking that when Apple devotes a conference to Macs, we are not saying that the Apple brand is abandoning the iPhones. Certainly, but Huawei is in a very complicated situation and it is certain that it must find new outlets: in 2021, its turnover has fallen by 28.6%. In China too, sales collapsed last year by 31%. A drop which is explained this time not by the absence of Google services – unusable in China – but by smartphones now marketed without 5 G compatibility.
Furthermore, Huawei itself tells us that smartphones are no longer a priority, even if they don’t feel ready to throw in the towel just yet:
William Tiann, President of Huawei for Europe said in Milan, during a meeting with the press to which Frandroid assisted: “As you know, we are struggling on smartphones. […] We’re going to focus more on the home office and wearables, but we’re not going to let go of the smartphone business. »
Among the concerns that Huawei smartphones encounter on the European market, often comes back the absence of a 5G modem on phones that are nevertheless sold at an expensive price, as well as a degraded software experience without Google.
HarmonyOS and 5G is no
Asked about the return of 5G on his phones, the executive first made it clear that “Huawei has the best Wi-Fi and wireless connection technology. Huawei is also always open to collaborate to obtain all components, including 5G chipsets”, without being able to communicate a roadmap on this subject. As for the arrival of HarmonyOS on its phones, which could offer a real alternative to Android, the manager also kicked in touch, but in a more direct way: “we do not currently plan to release phones running HarmonyOS this year”while specifying, for the form, that its last folding, the Mate Xs 2 has certain specific features of HarmonyOS.
As you will have understood, between these statements and the presentation almost entirely focused on wearables, there is every reason to think that Huawei no longer really considers the smartphone as a priority. There is enough to understand them, let’s face it.
To follow us, we invite you to download our Android and iOS application. You can read our articles, files, and watch our latest YouTube videos.