Huawei Denies Plans to Sell Mobile Phone Business
Chinese smartphone maker Huawei said it has no plans to sell its mobile phone business at all, countering a Reuters report which cited people with knowledge of the matter as saying the company is in talks to sell its premium smartphone brands P and Mate.
According to the report, Shenzhen-based Huawei has been holding discussions with “a consortium led by Shanghai government-backed investment firms” for months.
Reuters said the firm started to explore the possibility of selling the brands as early as September, two months before Huawei confirmed in November that it was selling off its budget phone brand Honor.
The tech giant hasn’t made a final decision on the sale yet, the report added.
In a statement to Pandaily, a spokesperson for Huawei denied the report, saying: “Huawei has learned there are unsubstantiated rumors circulating regarding the possible sale of our flagship smartphone brands. There is no merit to these rumors whatsoever. Huawei has no such plan. We remain fully committed to our smartphone business, and will continue to deliver world-leading products and experiences for consumers around the world.”
The P and Mate phone series are Huawei’s best-selling flagship phone models, contributing nearly 40% to the company’s total sales in the third quarter of 2020, according to a Reuters report citing market research firm Counterpoint.
SEE ALSO: Huawei Spin-off Brand Honor Working with Qualcomm to Launch New 5G Phone in Coming Months: Reports
However, supply chain restrictions placed on Huawei since May 2019 by the U.S. threatened its hardware supply, including key chipsets.
In November 2020, Huawei sold its budget smartphone sub-brand Honor to a consortium of over 30 agents, dealers and government-backed entities, saying it was under “tremendous pressure” to do so.
The effort proved successful, with Honor on Friday releasing the V40 series that runs on Taiwan’s MediaTek chipset — its first phone since the separation. The budget brand said it had also resumed partnerships with suppliers such as AMD, Qualcomm, Samsung, Microsoft and Intel.
