Huawei’s consumer sales fall 47 percent and company ‘trying to survive’

Half-year sales of Huawei’s consumer division, which includes the smartphone business, fell by 47 percent. The chairman of the company speaks of “challenging times” for Huawei and, according to him, the goal is to survive.

Huawei’s consumer division sales in the first half of 2021 amounted to 135.7 billion Chinese yuan, or 17.77 billion euros. That was 47 percent lower than a year ago. Huawei chairman Eric Xu blames unnamed “external factors,” and it’s clear that US trade barriers are at the root of declining sales.

A company spokesman reports to AFP news agency that the divestment of subsidiary Honor also contributed to the lower turnover. Huawei sold Honor to a consortium led by a Chinese state-owned company late last year to ensure that Honor was no longer negatively affected by the trade restrictions and can continue to use and purchase US technology, for example.

“Our goal is to survive and do this sustainably,” said Xu. The company focuses primarily on its carrier and enterprise divisions, where it expects growth. However, the half-year turnover of the carrier division, which focuses on technology for telecom networks, also fell by 14.2 percent to 136.9 billion yuan. Huawei’s total revenue fell by 29 percent in the past six months.

Huawei P50