Huawei crushing Apple in China as Trump's blacklisting makes it the 'patriotic choice'
Chinese smartphone maker Huawei is crushing Apple in China, according to a new analysis from research firm Canalys.
Smartphone shipments at Huawei soared 31 percent versus a year ago to 37.3 million, good for a record 38 percent of the entire Chinese market, Canalys said. Meanwhile, Apple shipments in the country fell 14 percent to just 5.7 million units.
“Huawei’s addition to the United States Entity List caused uncertainty overseas, but in China it has kept its foot on the accelerator,” Canalys analyst Mo Jia said in the report. He said the U.S.-China trade war is “creating new opportunities” as its retail partners are advertising the company as the “patriotic choice” amid its blacklisting by President Trump.
In May, Trump signed an executive order that banned U.S. companies from using Huawei equipment. The administration lifted the ban in July after the U.S. and China reached a trade truce at the G-20 summit.
Strong shipments in China lifted Huawei’s results for the first six months of the year. On Tuesday, the company reported total revenue of 401.3 billion yuan ($58.26 billion) and a net profit margin of 8.7 percent.
“Revenue grew fast up through May,” Huawei Chairman Liang Hua told reporters, according to Reuters. “Given the foundation we laid in the first half of the year, we continue to see growth even after we were added to the entity list. That’s not to say we don’t have difficulties ahead. We do, and they may affect the pace of our growth in the short term.”
Last month, founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said Huawei would take a $30 billion hit over the next two years as a result of the U.S. government ban and continuing trade spat with China.
Huawei’s current headwinds are “not caused by American businesses, but rather by certain politicians' different perspectives," Ren said. "I think both sides will suffer. No one will win."