Huawei Reduces Orders For New Phones, Rethinks Ambition To Be No. 1
Huawei's path was almost clear. After dethroning Apple to become the world's second largest smartphone vendor in the world, it had its eyes set on displacing Samsung next. That may not have been hard considering how both Samsung's and Apple's market shares have been declining while Huawei's and Honor's were on the rise. But then came US blacklist that threw the company into chaos. Now Huawei is reportedly reevaluating its goals to become the world's top vendor probably to focus on just surviving for the next few months.
It's not that Huawei doesn't want to be at the top but now it has to reassess whether that's even possible given present conditions. While it boasts that it has everything it needs to continue business for the next few months, having stockpiled necessary components for smartphones. That supply won't last long, though, especially if it tries to produce the same volume of devices as it always had.
That is probably why there are now reports that Huawei has reduced its orders of phones from famed assembler Foxconn. Unfortunately, that doesn't just affect Huawei only. The Taiwanese manufacturer has allotted several production lines in anticipation of the demand for Huawei phones. Now those lines have reportedly gone silent.
Huawei continues to struggle with the perception that it is down for the count. Even though the blacklist really only applies to the US, retailers and carriers around the world have already stopped selling even Huawei's latest and greatest, the P30 Pro. Despite assurances from the company and even from Google, owners of existing Huawei phones and some retailers have started selling devices at dirt cheap prices.
The company still has a backup plan, at least as far as software is concerned, and some international standards organizations have let it back in for now. But with hardware makers and chip designers cutting ties with Huawei, it might only be a matter of time before it completely loses its ability to make phones on the same level that made them popular.