Huawei is slashing prices on a range of high-end devices, including smartphones, in a move expected to boost short-term sales and prompt competitors to reevaluate their pricing strategies. This increased competition is likely to benefit consumers over time.
During a promotional event from Saturday evening to midnight Sunday, Huawei offered significant discounts on flagship products such as smartphones, headphones, watches, and tablets. Known for their advanced technology and innovative features, these devices were made more accessible with savings of up to 3,000 yuan ($411), according to a post by the company on its official Weibo account.
The company’s flagship Mate series of phones has enjoyed a strong comeback since the launch of its latest model, the Mate 60 Pro, in August. That device was the first mainstream Huawei smartphone to feature a satellite paging system, a new processor, and its own HarmonyOS Next operating system, moving away from Google apps and services. Its pricing was also a break from Apple’s iPhone range, with the Chinese company offering a lower starting price.
However, the phone’s resurgence was also helped by China’s government instructions to state agencies to buy its chips and mobile phones, a policy that has reduced Beijing’s dependence on Apple, whose iPhones are banned in many workplaces. Analysts estimate the country’s overall mobile phone shipments could hit 50 million this year, with the Huawei-designed Pura 70 series accounting for around 10 million.
Despite the US-China trade war and Beijing’s attempts to curb Huawei’s technological ambitions, analysts see the company continuing to expand its presence in the global market over the coming years. Huawei is investing heavily in research and development, spending 164.7 billion yuan ($22.8 billion) last year, or almost a quarter of its annual revenue, with over half its 207,000 employees working on R&D. American chip juggernaut Nvidia said earlier this year that it sees Huawei as one of its main competitors in artificial intelligence chips.
Despite the Trump administration’s attempt to limit their exports, Huawei has been able to boost production of its own 7-nanometer Kirin chips, which have been used in the Mate 60 Pro. The firm is reorienting its supply chain to rely more on its HiSilicon division for chip design and the local Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) for chip manufacturing.
The SMIC factory has produced several 7-nanometer chips that have been used in Huawei’s phones, including the latest version of its flagship Mate series, which carries the Kirin 9010 chip, according to TechInsights’ teardown of the phone. SK Hynix of South Korea supplies memory chips for the device, which has alarmed some in Washington who fear China’s ability to create sophisticated semiconductors. SK Hynix says it stopped doing business with Huawei after the US tariffs were introduced.