Huawei Denies To Sell Its Premium Smartphone Division

Huawei Mate X2 (Jonas Leupe/Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Huawei, which is on its way to dominating the smartphone market globally, is now struggling to keep its smartphone business afloat after the United States imposed several sanctions on the company.

Previously it was reported that the smartphone company from China would exit its high-end segment business by selling its flagship P and Mate series brands.

However, in the latest report, the company has denied this information. In an official statement, Huawei said it did not plan to divest its premium smartphone business except as a "last resort".

"We remain fully committed to our smartphone business and will continue to provide world-leading products and experiences to our consumers around the world," said Huawei.

Huawei's statement confirms that the company has not given up on reviving its premium smartphone business, including the P series and Mate series phones as well as the HiSilicon Kirin chipset products.

In its financial reports from the third quarter of 2019 to the third quarter of 2020, shipments of the P and Mate series are said to have grossed 39.7 billion US dollars (around IDR 551 trillion).

Honor V40 5G (Honor)

However, Huawei's rebuttal is a little questionable. At the end of last year, the company also denied when there was news that its sub-brand, namely Honor, would be sold to a consortium company supported by the local government of Shenzen, China.

Recently, the sub-brand was actually sold by Huawei to a new owner named Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd.

The reasoning behind the sale of its sub-brand is rather to save itself from the woes that have plagued its parent company since being placed on the US Department of Commerce entity list.

The withdrawal of Huawei's cellphone business cannot be separated from sanctions by the US government since the era of Donald Trump. It is predicted that the new American president, Joe Biden, will not immediately lift Trump's sanctions on Huawei.

Recently, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said that the company must decentralize its operations, simplify product lines, focus on making profits and maintain salary levels for three to five years to survive restrictions on US trade.