According to a report by The Elec, Huawei claims to drop down the production numbers in 2021. Notably, the company will reportedly produce only 50 million smartphones in 2021.
Huawei is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer in terms of shipment. And this reduced number is definitely going to hit hard on this recently received crown by the company.
For the unaware, Huawei became the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer in Q2 of 2020. Besides, it achieved this feat by surpassing the mammoth, Samsung.
Many believe that it is because of the fact that China was able to re-group quickly after the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, Samsung was hit hard in the Europe and North American market were the outbreak was the worse.
But now recent reports suggest that Huawei has decided to produce only 50 million smartphones in the next year. For comparison’s sake, it is a 74% drop from the total expected shipment in 2020.
Additionally, the figures for the previous year, i.e. 2019, stand at 240 million units. And this year it is speculated to reach 190 million units, even in this pandemic.
US trade ban is the primary reason behind Huawei’s fewer production in 2021
Huawei is targeting lower shipments because of the trade restrictions imposed on the company by the US. If you are living under a rock, Huawei is banned from using Google services.
On top of that, it is also not allowed to purchase semiconductors for smartphones and laptops from manufacturers after September 15.
Manufacturers like Qualcomm, MediaTek, and even TSMC, which manufactures Kirin chipsets for Huawei, is also restricted to supply chipsets to the company.
Besides, this is the reason the upcoming Huawei Mate 40 series will be the last smartphones from the company to be powered by Kirin chipset.
However, MediaTek and other manufacturers have sent their applications to the US government, to be able to supply chipsets to Huawei. But that matter is awaiting confirmation.
In fact, Huawei’s competitor Samsung will benefit from this crisis the former is facing due to the trade ban. And will eventually make its way to the top once again in 2021.
Huawei is set to release a HarmonyOS powered smartphone in 2021
Amidst all of this, Huawei is also trying to reduce its dependency on Google. In an earlier report, we have highlighted that Huawei is all set to release a HarmonyOS powered smartphone in 2021.
Moreover, the company is looking to bring smartphones, laptops, other IoT devices powered by HarmonyOS. This will help Huawei to create an ecosystem of HarmonyOS products.
At present, China’s Huawei is all dependent on SMIC to produce some of the Kirin SoCs. These will be used in budget and mid-range smartphones.