Richard Yu, the Chief Executive Officer at Huawei, revealed how the Chinese company shipped 139 million smartphones over the course of 2016, while also pointing to a 32% increase in annual revenue in comparison to the previous period. Yu recently spoke to Android Authority at CES, where he said how Huawei won’t rest on its laurels and is already hard at work trying to build on its 2016 success. The company’s CEO also commented on the overall state of the industry by saying how a number of smaller Android OEMs may leave the market over the course of this year.
Yu revealed how the Shenzhen-based consumer electronics manufacturer has already approved additional investments into promoting its latest products while simultaneously pushing into new markets like the United States where the Mate 9 just launched today. The company has recently been enjoying significant levels of success in its home country and Europe, which resulted in Huawei grabbing the title of the most profitable vendor of Android devices in Q3 2016. According to Yu’s claims, the third largest phone maker in the world is now looking to replicate that success in other markets, including the US. While certainly ambitious, Huawei remains humble in its approach to building smartphones, as the company’s CEO stressed the importance of strategic partnerships which allow it to build better devices, like the one that the firm has been nurturing with Leica. “We cannot do everything by ourselves,” said Yu, adding how Huawei sees partnerships as a way to bring the best possible innovations together.
This collaborative spirit is also evident in the company’s efforts to support the Google Daydream virtual reality platform. Apart from working on acquiring the Daydream-ready certification for the Mate 9 Pro and the Porsche Design Mate 9, the Chinese tech giant also announced its very own Daydream VR headset that’s scheduled for a release later in the year. Additionally, the Mate 9 is the first Alexa-enabled smartphone in the industry, which is another indication of Huawei’s focus on collaboration and its willingness to implement third-party technologies into its products. While Yu is understandably optimistic about the company’s prospects in the West, he didn’t use this interview as an opportunity to deliver an update on Huawei’s distribution issues in the US where the Shenzen-based phone maker initially received a frosty reception from many potential retail partners, especially wireless carriers.