Huawei is forecasting its annual smartphone shipments will decrease by 20% in 2020 according to a new report from The Information. If accurate, this would represent the company’s first ever year on year decline for that metric.
The projection takes into account the US trade ban placed on Huawei in May 2019 that has resulted in strain on its supply chain and new, major phones like the Mate 30 Pro unable to officially run Google apps and services.
The latter makes Huawei’s phone much less viable for purchase by western consumers compared to China where Google is not dominant. It’d be a huge hit to a smartphone company whose stock was sky-high prior to the ban thanks to excellent products and solid marketing.
The projection was said to be made in January before the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus. This new factor may end up hurting Huawei’s shipments even more given manufacturing occurs in its native China.
“The outlook could get even tougher for Huawei due to the coronavirus outbreak, which has disrupted China’s hardware supply chain and forced electronics retailers, including the chain of 4,985 Huawei-branded stores across the country, to suspend or limit their operations,” the report commented.
The Information implied it got the, well, information from an internal source at Huawei, and said that the projection “stems from expected weak sales in Europe and other overseas markets”.
Huawei is expected to announce its P40 and P40 Pro flagship phones in Paris on 26 March. The handsets are not expected to run Google apps and services.
Author: Henry Burrell, Phones Editor
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.