Huawei Sees Sales Surge, But Profits Fall

Matthew Broersma,
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Huawei introduces the Mate 40 smartphone in October 2020. Image credit. Huawei

US-sanctioned Huawei sees sales surge in first three quarters of 2024 on domestic smartphone popularity, even as net profits fall

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US-sanctioned Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment vendor, reported a 29.5 surge in revenue for the first three quarters of 2024 fuelled by domestic demand for its smartphones, even as net profits fell.

The company, based in Shenzhen, took in 585.9 billion yuan ($82.3bn) during the period, up from 452.3bn yuan a year earlier, according to a filing to the Shanghai Clearing House.

But net profits fell 13.7 percent during the same periodto 62.9bn yuan, down from 72.9bn yuan during the same period in 2023.

The privately held company did not provide a breakdown of the performance of its different business segments.

Huawei's Mate 60 Pro smartphone. Image credit: Huawei
Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro smartphone. Image credit: Huawei

Smartphone growth

Huawei has risen back to the ranks of China’s most popular smartphone vendors since its return to the premium smartphone market last year with the Mate 60 line.

The Mate 60 series, Pura 70 series and other recent devices feature processors and 5G chips developed domestically, after Huawei was barred from using various advanced US technologies in 2019 and 2020.

The firm’s smartphone sales surpassed those of Apple in mainland China in August for the first time in 46 months, research firm CINNO found.

The Chinese smartphone market, the world’s biggest, is on track to post its first full-year sales growth in five years, analysts say.

Huawei’s third-quarter smartphone shipments in mainland China grew 42 percent year-on-year to take 15.3 percent of the market, putting it in third place behind leader Vivo and second-ranked Apple, IDC said last month.

The company launched its latest Pura 70-series and the world’s first trifold smartphone, the Mate XT, in September on the same day as Apple’s iPhone 16.

Huawei's Mate XT trifold smartphone. Image credit: Huawei
Huawei’s Mate XT trifold smartphone. Image credit: Huawei

Research investment

Its next flagship device, the Mate 70 series, is expected to launch this month.

The company has also been investing heavily in developing domestic technologies to supplant those from the US, including advanced AI chips and its HarmonyOS 5.0 operating system, formerly known as HarmonyOS Next, which removes compatibility with Google’s Android.

The firm began staffing a massive new research and development campus in the Shanghai area last month.