Boosted by global adaptation of fourth-generation (4G) mobile technology, China’s Huawei Technologies Ltd., the worlds #2 telecommunications equipment maker, reported a 33% rise in net profits for 2014. Global revenue, up 21% from a year ago to 288.2 billion yuan ($46.2 billion) this past fiscal year, is expected to jump another 20% this year, according to the Shenzhen-based company. The company, despite being effectively locked out of the U.S. telecom market after a Congressional report labeled it as a potential cyber security threat, scored a victory recently when a government-ordered inspection in Britain concluded their equipment posed no threat to the country’s national security. Huawei’s consumer devices branch reported the biggest jump in revenue last year, up 32.6% amid competition from Lenovo and Xiaomi, and their enterprise devision, which builds private networks for companies rose 27.3%. Huawei missed smartphone sales target last year in a market dominated by Apple and Samsung products, but the firm projects overall revenue of $70 billion by 2018 (roughly 10% annual growth) and plans to invest 14% of global revenues from this year into research and development.
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/31/uk-huawei-tech-results-idUKKBN0MR08720150331.
Who holds what market share inside China? Who supplies the OS? [I think almost all are Androids.]
Note that many of the smart phones in China are a generation or two behind, and hence are MUCH less expensive. So here’s a puzzle (an Econ 243 Economics of Business Strategy topic): why doesn’t Apple sell its old models at a discount? — as of April 2015 they don’t even list the iPhone 4 on their website!
I wonder how Huawei’s sales will be in 2015 as Apple’s market share increases.
I saw an article today that stated Xiaomi was able to sell over 2 million smartphones in a 12 hour online sale. This number of sales astounds me. Clearly China is one of the biggest and best smartphone markets to have a slice of. Another thought I have is if Huawei will be able to enter the U.S. market in a big way anytime soon. I wonder if their U.S. sales could ever reach a level as to rival the likes of Apple and Samsung here.