Missing phone
On Monday, Huawei held its own big product launch, just a few weeks after Apple debuted its latest iPhone range. The Chinese tech giant made a lot of noise about new $200+ earbuds, and even teased 2 new electric vehicles, but conversation around the company’s new 5G phone, the Mate 60 Pro, was much more muted — with no new information on the gadget that should be a flagship product.
Thousands of fans took to Chinese social media to voice their anger, as the launch event became the hottest topic on Weibo — garnering 6 billion views on 1.6 million related posts. However, even though the 36-year-old company wasn’t shouting about it, the new handset is reportedly powering a sales surge for Huawei after revenues slipped in the last 2 years.
Dialing down
But it wasn’t just Huawei superfans who were keen to hear more about the new phone. The Mate 60 smartphone series, which was quietly launched by the Chinese tech giant last month, reportedly comes with a highly advanced semiconductor chip — sparking concerns in Washington that Huawei has circumnavigated US sanctions aimed at curbing China’s access to advanced chipmaking tools.
Huawei’s efforts to shift focus to its cloud and automotive divisions have helped sales grow in its most recent quarters — but the tech giant is likely to remain at the center of the sensitive tit-for-tat trade wars between the US and China for some time to come.
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