Huawei’s revenue soars after smartphone resurgence eats up Apple’s share in China – report

Huawei Technologies’ revenue and net profit saw high growth in the first half of 2024, as smartphone sales surged and its smart car parts business performed well despite U.S. curbs, Reuters reported.

For the six-month period January to June, net profit rose 18% to 54.9B yuan ($7.7B) on a 34.3% growth in revenue to 417.5B yuan. It was the company’s highest revenue for a first half since the same period in 2020, the report added.

The Chinese tech giant did not provide an earnings breakdown for individual businesses, but a spokesperson noted that its main consumer business that includes smartphones and PCs, plus its smart car equipment unit, performed strongly, as per the report.

Huawei’s information and communications technology infrastructure, cloud, and digital power units saw a steady performance, the spokesperson noted, adding that first-half profits were not strengthened by the sale of businesses or assets as they were done in the year ago period, according to the report.

Huawei’s revenue for the June quarter soared 33.7% year-over-year to 239B yuan ($33.6B), Bloomberg News reported, as per calculations based on the company’s six-month financial figures.

The company’s revenue grew for the sixth straight quarter. Implied net profit fell 18.6% year-over-year to 35.5B, as the company had recorded one-time gains from divestment in the year ago period. Huawei sold mobile maker Honor Device Co. to a consortium in 2020 and parts of its server business in 2021. The proceeds from both were received in installments, as per the report.

Huawei’s smartphone shipments in China soared 41% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2024, while Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone shipments had dipped by about two percentage points in the same period, according to data from research firm Canalys.

It was the first quarter in history that Chinese vendors dominated all the top five positions in smartphone shipments in China, while Apple ranked sixth.

Apple’s smartphone market share in China has been facing tough competition from Chinese rivals, such as the resurgent Huawei. The Chinese tech giant was once in competition with Apple (AAPL) and Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF) to be the world’s biggest handset maker until U.S. restrictions, starting in 2019, began to curb its access to chip manufacturing tools needed to produce its most advanced models.

However, last year in August, Huawei surprised many by quietly launching its new flagship smartphone, Mate 60 Pro. The chip inside the phone ignited concerns in the U.S. and raised questions about how it was possible, without the company being able to access critical technologies. In April, Huawei launched its Pura 70 series, which features the Kirin 9010 chip, a follow-up to the Kirin 9000s reportedly made by Semiconductor Manufacturing International (OTCQX:SIUIF) for the Mate 60 Pro.

Over the last four years, Huawei has also seen growth in its Intelligent Automotive Solution unit, which intends to be a major supplier of software and components for smart electric vehicles and has inked deals with several automakers.