US president, Donald Trump’s recent statement that US companies can do business with Huawei may be a glimmer of much-needed hope for the company. The US ban, though suspended for 90 days, was already having some ripple effects on the company’s shipments globally. In Taiwan, shipping estimates show that Huawei’s smartphone sales have started to decline after the announcement by Google and other US companies who are key players in the smartphone industry that their services are no longer available to Huawei.
Sources at local retail channels disclosed that Huawei was able to ship an estimated 50,000 smartphones in the tiny island in May. This accounts for an 8.6% share in terms of unit shipments and enables Huawei to retain its fourth spot in the domestic market. Huawei ranks behind Apple (24.8%) in the first position, Samsung in second (23.7%) and Oppo at the third spot (10.8%).
However, Huawei’s shipment value dropped to fourth from third with a 6% share, trailing Apple (52.7%), Samsung (19.7%) and Oppo (6.4%). The sources speculate that Huawei’s smartphone sales are likely to drop by 60-80% on month in June, with its ranking in unit shipments to tumble by 4-5 notches. With Trump’s latest announcement, it is left to be seen how the market will react. We expect sales of Huawei’s phones to rebound but there may still be some uncertainty whether Trump may decide to wield the big stick again.
UP NEXT: Samsung to splash $40,000 on winners of this year’s Samsung Mobile Design Competition
(source)
