Huawei has made a drastic cut to the number of smartphone shipments it expects for 2021, sources in its home region suggest. In fact, the company will likely decrease production by more than half.
But just how bad is this cut to shipments for Huawei?
In terms of pure figures, Huawei has reportedly informed suppliers to plan on around a 60-percent decrease to its orders from last year. Put another way, Huawei plans to order components for 70 to 80-million smartphones in 2021. That number drops down from the 189-million smartphones Huawei produced in 2020. Those 2020 figures are also right in the midst of Huawei’s troubles with the US, which knocked it from its position as a top smartphone OEM.
Other suppliers, the source indicates, expect Huawei to cut shipments for components for smartphones to just 50-million handsets. That cut would be a much bigger hit for the company, equating to a drop of just over 73.5-percent.
Moreover, Huawei will reportedly ship no 5G phones in 2021, as it is unable to get 5G components due to restrictions on trade with the company.
This isn’t entirely unexpected
Huawei was, as hinted above, once poised to overtake Samsung as the world’s leading smartphone OEM. But this turn of events isn’t entirely unexpected. The company has faced increasing scrutiny on the world stage over the past several years. And, summarily, ended up banned in many regions. But, more importantly, it also ended up stripped of the ability to use Google’s apps.
Huawei, rallying from that blow, created its own alternative to Google’s ecosystem. But that hasn’t necessarily panned out as the company may have hoped. While still a respective force in the mobile world, Huawei was also essentially forced to let go of some properties — such as Honor –in its push. And prospects for obtaining hardware, creating software and firmware, and competing directly have fallen short for Huawei.