Huawei’s wearables, PC and headsets contribute to steady growth despite the global pandemic

In June 2018, Huawei released the all-scenario smart life strategy, simplified as “1+8+N”, “1” refers to the smartphones that users frequently use on a daily basis, while “8” includes wearables, headphones, PC, tablet, speakers, glasses, vehicle-mounted devices, and Huawei Vision. Those are non-smartphone products which are frequently used in specific scenarios. “N” refers to tens of billions of smart devices provided by ecosystem-partners including smart home, mobile office, smart travel, sports and health, and audio-visual entertainment products.

Since then, Huawei Device has applied its smartphone research and development (R&D) capabilities to eight types of non-smartphone products and embarked on a diversified growth path with “1+8” as the core. Driven by technological innovation, Huawei’s Mate 30 series, Nova 6, and Honor 9X series have all been hot sellers, and the smartphone business remains solid. In the first quarter of 2020, despite the huge external challenges facing the entire industry, Huawei’s smartphone shipments remain No.2 in the world and No.1 in the Chinese market.

Today, Huawei Device is more than just a smartphone company. Driven by the “1+8+N” all-scenario smart life strategy, non-smartphone businesses are booming, and businesses such as PC, smart screen, and wearable are not affected by the absence of GMS. As a result, when the smartphone business is at a low ebb, the growth of non-smartphone businesses can partially offset the impact brought by the decline of the overseas smartphone business.

In the first quarter of 2020, the shipments of Huawei wearables increased by 75% year-on-year, that of PCs were up by more than 110% year-on-year, and the shipment of TWS headsets increased by over 150% compared with last year.

The all-scenario smart life strategy brings synergetic innovation of the software and hardware ecosystem platform. It can upgrade users’ software and hardware experience, enable interconnection, interoperability, and capability sharing of all devices (including smartphones) in all scenarios, and enable consumers to enjoy smart life experience in different life scenarios where multiple devices are connected imperceptibly and information is seamlessly transferred.

In addition, the interconnection and interoperability of “1+8” products can improve user experience, enhance ecosystem loyalty, and maximize values for users. The latest technology of smartphones can be applied to non-smartphones, driving their innovations. The development of non-smartphone businesses can also give back to smartphones and drive the growth of smartphones through product interconnection and interoperability, which facilitates mutual development.

If Huawei had not entered the consumer and enterprise businesses back then, it might still have not won over Ericsson in the telecom equipment market. If Huawei Device did not implement the all-scenario smart life strategy, its business would be completely subjected to the boom or bust of the smartphone industry.

It is fair to say that Huawei is one of the most resilient companies globally.