14 DAY TRIAL // Huawei originally said that the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump and banning the company from working with American firms wouldn’t have any impact on its smartphone shipments because it was already prepared for such a decision.
But as it turns out, dealing with such a large-scale ban isn’t an easy thing even for a company the size of Huawei, as the Chinese tech giant is now reducing smartphone shipment estimates following the ban.
In other words, Huawei now expects to sell fewer phones, and according to a report from Nikkei, the company believes its sales would drop by as much as 30 percent in the second half of 2019.
Furthermore, people familiar with the matter said Huawei has already reduced orders at its major suppliers, as the company anticipates difficult times in the next months because of the US ban.
Overtaking Samsung not very likely now
Meanwhile, the Chinese firm continues to work on the operating system that could help it deal with one of its biggest struggles following the US ban: the lack of a platform to power its devices. Neither Android nor Windows can be installed on devices launched by Huawei, so the company has no other choice than to build its own operating system to power phones and PCs.
Codenamed Hongmeng and likely to launch as Ark OS, this operating system is expected to be finalized in just a few months to be installed on phones sold in China. However, given the international launch is only planned for 2020, the impact on smartphone shipments could be bigger than originally anticipated.
It goes without saying that the US ban isn’t only affecting Huawei, but also many of its suppliers. Huawei is currently the second largest smartphone producer in the world, and it originally planned to overtake leader Samsung by the end of 2020.
Recently, Huawei officials said the company might have to reassess this goal, as the US ban could affect its smartphone sales worldwide in the short term.