As big brands like Apple and Samsung continue to dominate, the industry is no doubt looking East to where the next player is coming from, but that big new player is already here in the form of Huawei. A Chinese name that, just a couple of years ago, would have been associated only with budget-minded handsets – and perhaps the odd Congressional scandal – has become a major global player. Comfortably cemented in the Top Five smartphone manufacturers in the World, Huawei is looking ahead to the future, and while many of their near-future plans have recently been discussed, their CEO is looking a littler further ahead.
By 2020, Huawei’s CEO and Founder, Ren Zhengfei, fully expects revenues for the Chinese firm to hit $150 Billion. To put things into perspective, Samsung posted revenue of roughly $167 Billion for FY2015, and that was during a “bad year” for the South Korean firm. Meanwhile, Huawei posted $60 Billion during the same period, which means they have a tall ladder to climb in order to get to that $150 Billion figure. Comparing their figures to Samsung’s might be a little unfair as well, considering that the South Korean giant makes practically every consumer gadget you can think of, while Huawei is all about mobile – including a robust infrastructure and equipment business. Let’s not also forget that Huawei is a firm that doesn’t charge quite as much for its smartphones as Samsung do, which inevitably leads to less profit per handset.
Huawei have already announced plans for the rest of the year, and while devices like the Huawei P9 and Huawei P9 Plus have helped to put the brand on the map, devices like the Nexus 6P appear to be doing a lot more for the Chinese name. With Daydream ready devices set to launch from Huawei in the Fall, it looks as though the company is looking to make sure that 2016 is a year that sees Huawei graduate from being just a Chinese name to being one of the biggest, and if we already look at volume alone, Huawei is the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the entire World, so it’s clear they’re capable of doing this.