It’s CES 2016 this week, and while LG have already had their keynote address with little mobile-related news to show off, Huawei is next, and they some interesting news to share with us. Starting off 2016 will be the global release of the Huawei Mate 8 as well as two new Huawei Watch models designed with the feminine audience in mind, partnering with Swarovski. Looking behind them to the 2015 that was though, Huawei experienced 70% year-on-year growth compared to 2014, shipping a whopping 108 Million smartphones to become the number one brand in China, and the third worldwide.
That 108 Million smartphones shipped figure makes Huawei the first Chinese smartphone brand to reach such a figure, and was also a 44% increase on the amount of smartphones shipped in 2014. All of this added up to revenue of more than $20 Billion US, a near 70% year-on-year growth from 2014. These are impressive figures for Huawei, and in their press release they note that strategic releases and partnerships helped them last year, and will go on to do so this year. Pointing to the partnership with Google resulting in the Nexus 6P and the deal with Swarovski to produce the new Jewel and Elegant Huawei Watches. At home, Huawei claim to have held the most market share in China since March 2015 and have now hit the top three globally. More interestingly, Huawei’s market share in high-end smartphones costing upwards of €400 went above 60% last year. In Western Europe, the Chinese firm ranked in the top three in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal among others.
Unlike other firms, Huawei is looking to reinvest the majority of their newfound success to ensure a healthy future for 2016 and beyond. Huawei invested 14.2% of its annual revenue in 2014 back into research and development and now have 16 research labs all over the world. This led to securing 76,687 patents, 18,000 of which apply to Huawei hardware, giving them a strong intellectual property to build upon. Huawei is keen to keep on investing and partnering with other big names across the globe, and if their massive success from 2015 is anything to go on, it looks like 2016 is to be another excellent year for them.