Huawei has been at the hub of several controversies which is affecting its smartphone business. As of now, the company has sold its Honor sub-brand. However, it claims that the sales will not significantly affect Huawei. Huawei’s major problem right now is “chips”. The latest U.S. ban stops the company from doing business with TSMC. With this ban in place, TSMC can not manufacture Huawei’s latest flagship chips. For those who do not know, Huawei like Qualcomm and MediaTek only design chips, they do not produce or manufacture these chips. Of all the smartphone makers, only Samsung has the capacity to both design and manufacture processors.
Read Also: A plethora of Huawei 5G smartphones with Dimensity chips are coming soon
If there is no chip, then Huawei can not have a smartphone. For entry-level devices, Huawei has a couple of Chinese options, However, for mid-range and flagship phones (especially flagship), its hands are tied. Nevertheless, there were reports that Huawei placed a huge order with MediaTek before the September 15th ban date. There are also speculations that MediaTek delivered these Dimensity chips before the ban took effect.
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Now, there are reports from @DigitalChatStation that Huawei and Honor will have Dimensity 1000+ new phones in the future. Obviously, if we must expect these devices, they should arrive next year at the earliest. We don’t exactly understand why Huawei and Honor are still in the same sentence. Perhaps, the Honor invention is already at an advanced stage and is not part of the sales.
Huawei’s deal with MediaTek reflected in its Q3 2020 financial report
This means that we will soon have a plethora of Huawei 5G smartphones with Dimensity chips. This deal between Huawei and MediaTek also reflected in MediaTek’s third-quarter financial performance. In the third quarter, MediaTek revenue hit NT$97.275 billion (approximately $3.3 billion), a year-on-year increase of 44.7%. Its net profit is NT$ 13.367 billion (approximately $467 million), a year-on-year increase of 93.7%.
MediaTek said that this quarter’s revenue increased compared to the previous quarter and the same period last year, mainly due to the increase in the market share of smartphone chips, the shipment of 5G products, and the increase in sales of consumer electronics such as TVs, WiFi, and power management chips.
MediaTek has been supplying entry-level smartphone chips to Huawei. However, this time, the supply of mid-range and flagship chips pushed up its profits. At the end of August, MediaTek had applied to the United States and hoped to continue to supply the Chinese manufacturer after September 15. However, there is no significant progress with respect to the application. Recent reports claim that any manufacturer hoping to supply Huawei must not be involved with 5G. If this is true, then there is probably no hope for MediaTek.
