Huawei’s President Ren Zhengfei recently disclosed that the company shipped 153 million smartphones in 2017 which is a 10% rise from 2016’s figure. This year, Huawei is seeking to increase its shipments and it appears that its strategy will be to concentrate on the low-budget market. Mr. Zhengfei said at an internal meeting that the global market will be better tapped if the company focusses on low-end smartphones. His words
“It is important to use low-priced products to defend our high-end smartphone market to make more profits. Low-end smartphones meet the needs of the general public, accounting for 95 percent of the total consumers in the world,”
In order to create a balance, Mr. Zhengfei believes that the low-end products will defend its high-end smartphones and more profit will be accrued. Amongst other things, he noted that 90% of the total global consumers rely on low-end smartphones and the needs of the general public are handled by these products.
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In all honesty, Huawei doesn’t have the capacity to challenge the likes of Apple and Samsung in the high-end market but it can definitely claim some grounds in the low and mid-range market. This plan by Huawei is not as easy as it sounds because the low-end market gets lower profits thus it must be very systematic in its strategy. The Honor brand is particularly doing well as it aims to become one of the world’s top five smartphone brands in three years. November 2017 statistics from Sino Market Research shows that this brand claimed 14.5% of the Chinese smartphone market to sit at the top of Android smartphone segment. This good performance has attracted more resources to the Honor brand and it can now put up a good fight in overseas markets like Southeast Asia and India.