Placed in a delicate situation by the Trump administration, which put it on a blacklist in the United States, Huawei is now seeking to correct the course. The Chinese telecoms giant had however taken the shock rather well, at the beginning at least. Between April and May 2020, Huawei had thus managed to maintain its leading position in the market. The ban on the use of “made in America” components only slightly affected the group's activities during the first months. On the one hand, because Huawei had a significant stock of components for its smartphones. On the other hand, because he already made his own processors himself. The ban on integrating Google Web Services (Google Maps, Gmail and the Play Store, in particular), on the other hand, had a greater impact on the group's local activity in Europe,with a gradual decline in sales throughout 2020.

The bad news followed very quickly. Honor, its subsidiary, recorded a significant drop in sales. Huawei has made the decision to sell its subsidiary at the end of 2020 to a Chinese conglomerate, to prevent this from affecting its activities too much. The Chinese group also hoped that passing the torch to Joe Biden would reduce sanctions, a miscalculation since Biden kept Huawei on the blacklist. The automaker's sales plummeted. In April 2021, Huawei had already left the top 5 of the biggest sellers of smartphones. The Chinese manufacturer, which has been developing its own operating system to replace Android for several years, has also been forced to postpone its plans until the summer of 2021. And the next few months do not look much better.

However, the group still claims a solid customer base in Europe: 16 million according to the latest figures.

Huawei has also invested heavily in App Gallery, its application store, which replaces the Play Store on its new smartphones.

“We managed to bring 92% of the most used applications to App Gallery,” explains Tian Wenhao, president of Huawei Western Europe.

A diversification strategy

If it can put aside growth in 2021, Huawei intends to limit the damage by diversifying its activities. The Chinese group offers a full range of products, ranging from tablets to laptops, connected watches, headphones and headphones. HarmonyOS has also been developed for this purpose. “This is one of our key advantages over the competition,” assures Tian Wenhao. HarmonyOS is a very light operating system and, according to the manufacturer, optimized to the maximum. “He doesn't have old age worries” like Android can. HarmonyOS devices are still as fluid a year after purchase as on the first day. The OS has also been designed to offer more in-depth interactions with the brand's PCs and all connected objects.

“The wearable market is growing very quickly. Three years ago, less than 10% of smartphone owners used a smartwatch. Today, it is around 30%, assures the president of Huawei Western Europe. And we're going to see rapid progress. In the near future, more than 50% of consumers are expected to use smartwatches. “And in this market, the Chinese giant is positioned as one of the leaders with its elegant and accessible connected watches.

The Chinese group is also betting more than ever on its laptops, which are selling better and better in the West, and on its catalog of connected objects: headphones, headsets and even connected glasses. With a complete ecosystem, Huawei has the ability to become a real competitor to Apple, which operates the exact same strategy. HarmonyOS would have the ability to take interactions further. “There has been no innovation in this market for a very long time,” says Tian Wenhao. And if it is today in a delicate situation, Huawei intends to take its time to rebuild its empire.

The stakes remain high, however, because if Huawei has succeeded in establishing itself in the connected watch market by investing very early in this sector, its late arrival on the portable PC and audio market is working against it.

The brand recorded a very clear increase in its sales in these two markets, but it was also starting from zero.

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