Huawei’s handset business making a comeback, executive says

A visitor checks a mobile phone near the Huawei logo during the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, China June 28, 2023. REUTERS/Nicoco Chan/File photo

SHENZHEN, China – Huawei Technologies’ handset business is “on the road to a comeback” the head of the company’s consumer business Richard Yu said in his keynote at the company’s annual developer conference in the southern city of Dongguan on Friday.

Huawei’s share of the domestic smartphone market share grew by 76.1 percent in the second quarter, and took second spot in the high-end sector, Yu said.

The company held 11.3 percent of the overall China market in the second quarter, behind five competitors led by Vivo and Apple, according to Counterpoint Research.

Counterpoint attributed Huawei’s growth to the resumption of normal product launches after resolving shortages.

Several rounds of U.S. restrictions on U.S.-made technology limited Huawei to producing last-generation 4G handsets, causing its once sizeable handset market share to plummet both at home and abroad.

The U.S. and European governments have labelled Huawei a security risk, a charge the company denies.

Yu said Huawei’s in-house Harmony operating system has “overcome many challenges” in the last four years, noting there were now 2.2 million developers for the system.

Last month research firms told Reuters they expect Huawei to return to making 5G smartphones by the end of the year by procuring chips domestically, in spite of the U.S. restrictions.

Huawei declined to comment.