Last Wednesday, Huawei held an event in which it presented up to six new new products from different categories, its long-awaited own operating system, HarmonyOS, and showed more details about the next Huawei P50. It was his way of telling everyone that despite the US veto on Huawei, the consumer unit has not said its last word and envisions a future in which the smartphone is not the center of everything .
In just two years, Huawei has gone from being the manufacturer that sells the most phones, alternating positions with Samsung, to seeing its sales fall by almost half in the last year , and staying out of the ranking of the five most important brands.
Despite its communication campaign to make users see that buying a phone without Google services is not the end of the world and that there are alternatives, consumers prefer to have everything easy. In addition, we are at a time where new competitors, such as Xiaomi, OnePlus or Oppo (in addition to Samsung), are taking out very interesting terminals , with good prices and from the hand of Android and its Play Store.
For this reason, since the veto was announced in 2019, the company's strategy began to develop in two ways: on the one hand, begin to diversify into product ranges that are growing in sales –Such as headphones, wearables or computers– and new product ranges, such as the giant screen Huawei Vision S. On the other hand, the company opted for the creation of its own operating system on which everything works: HarmonyOS. We can find this, and use it, from June 3. However, it will not be on a phone, but on other devices.
To talk about the current situation and the future of the company, we sat down with Fred Wang, the head of Huawei's consumer unit in Spain replacing Pablo Wang, who had been working for more than fifteen years with the company.
How was your arrival in Spain and taking over the subsidiary at a time when mobile phone sales data has plummeted? What state of mind did you find among the Huawei employees? Well, although it is true that I have been in Spain for just over six months, my experience in Huawei is much greater, and I have already spent more than 10 years in other subsidiaries of the company in Europe, such as Romania or Austria. However, Spain is a much larger market than other countries I have been in and coming to direct the consumer unit was a very exciting challenge for me .
With the new product strategy that we have announced these days, but which we have been preparing for several months, and the arrival of our own operating system, HarmonyOS, I have found a team of people who fully trust the company and in an optimistic mood.
Is there life beyond mobile phones?
Two of the latest phones from The company, the Huawei P40 Pro and the Huawei Mate 40 Pro, were called to be two of the best phones of the year at the hardware level, especially for their advances in the field of photography. However, the sales did not follow in a market with users very accustomed to Android and enjoying Google services. Against this background, is there a future for Huawei outside the world of smartphones? At Huawei we have not stopped working on developing new phones. The sample is the Huawei Mate X2 (he takes it out of his pocket), which was presented a few months ago and is an example of what Huawei can do in the world of smartphones, leading all the innovation that exists in the world of smartphones. folding devices.
On my arrival as the head of Huawei Consumption in Spain, I have met a group of optimistic people who trust the company.
We are also continuing to make progress in further improving photography and other features such as fast charging processes. With the veto of the United States, we have a major challenge ahead of us and for this reason, in addition to continuing to work on new phones, we are also expanding new product categories .
The first months of the year have passed and we have not seen any Huawei flagship. I understand that the situation with TSMC and the US restrictions have made it difficult for you to follow the roadmap that you probably have drawn up. In any case: can we expect a high-end smartphone from Huawei sometime in 2021? Well, talking about the future is complicated. Today we focus on the launch of new products that is part of the company's current strategy.
But will we see a Huawei phone this year? We are working on that and when there are news, we will communicate them .
HarmonyOS: an operating system with which to control everything
A few weeks ago, the top leader of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, asked his employees to “dare to lead the world of software”, controlling both the software as the hardware as the only way to counteract the impacts of the American veto on the Chinese company. In the medium-term future, will we see Huawei, hand in hand with HarmonyOS, as a software company, as Google or Microsoft are today? As a company, we are a company that develops both quality products and services. Since the US ban, we have been boosting our own services. The App Gallery or Huawei Mobile Services are an example of this. But not only that, we have also developed services such as Petal Search (which is equivalent in functions to the Google search engine that comes in every phone), Huawei Video or Huawei Music. In short, offering consumers all kinds of services within the Huawei umbrella.
On the arrival of a new phone in the near future: “We are working on that and when there are news, we will communicate them .”
But we needed something more, and here comes the release of HarmonyOS. A few years ago, not many, people used only one or two devices. Now they use five or even more (among wearables, headphones, tablets …). And that is where the importance of HarmonyOS lies, showing itself as the operating system to offer a seamless experience between all devices . That both a tablet, such as headphones, such as the watch or our phone, use the same operating system. That is why we do not consider HarmonyOS as a copy of Android.
Headphones, wearables and… electric cars
You have just presented the Huawei Watch 3, a smartwatch that takes a considerable leap in quality compared to its predecessor. In a super competitive market like this, full of options and with more and more brands participating in it, how do you want to differentiate yourself? Well, as you said, we have introduced many improvements in the new Huawei Watch 3. From the compatibility with an eSIM to be able to go outside leaving the phone at home, to new functions such as SOS or measuring the temperature of the skin.
We try to differentiate ourselves from the competition by offering new functionalities that help make the user experience better.
What is the consumer response being to your latest launches in the field of wearables? What is the most successful product in Spain? Do you have any objectives for this segment? We are very happy with the reception that both our smartwatches and activity bracelets have had. As for the company's most successful product, it depends on the moment. It is true that there are products like FreeBuds that are sold all year round but others are more seasonal , for example in summer people seek to start taking care of themselves and there sales of wearables increase.
In recent months there has been a lot of rumor about Huawei's entry into the electric car market. How does the company see that market? Could this be a way to recover from the blow in the mobile division? It is a clearly booming segment in which other technology companies (such as Xiaomi) seem to be entering … Throughout Huawei's history, we have created various scenarios. For example, people spend a lot of time at home, as we create smarthome solutions. People spend a lot of time at work, as we invest in creating smartoffice. People also like to take care of themselves, as we develop devices to help them to do so, improving their sports performance and their diet.
The new scenario is that of travel, and that is what has led us to think: how we can make the travel experience better . For this reason, as a technology provider that we are, we will also be one for the automotive industry, contributing our experience.
