The real reason Samsung is #1
Where would Huawei be today if US sanctions hadn’t halted the meteoric rise of the Chinese? The Huawei boss thinks he knows the answer: at the top. He only has derogatory words for the current top dog Samsung.
It’s been three years since former US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping US sanctions on Huawei. They didn’t fail to have an effect: in 2019, Huawei was still on its way to number 1, but today it no longer plays a role in the smartphone market. But how would the story have ended if the US hadn’t thrown those truncheons in Huawei’s legs? Huawei boss Richard Yu is sure what the mobile world would look like today.
Huawei boss does not even call Samsung by name
“If the US hadn’t stepped in and suppressed us, the two largest smartphone manufacturers would probably be Huawei and Apple”Yu said at an automotive event in China (via Android Authority). “Now I’m not very modest, but that would probably be the result today.”
The current leader plays no significant role in the mind game. Samsung is not even mentioned by name by the Huawei boss, but simply referred to as a “South Korean company”. In this what-if scenario, Richard Yu sees Samsung as one of the “smaller manufacturers” who would at best still be successful in the USA or at home.
Huawei recently presented an interesting notebook with the MateBook D16:
Huawei’s slow descent
The assessment of the Huawei boss cannot be completely dismissed. Between 2016 and 2019, the Chinese company surfed an unparalleled wave of success. In 2020, Huawei even created a sensation and was able to dethrone Samsung for a short time – but its success was mainly driven by the good sales figures in its home country, where the loss of Google services is not significant. Since the tightened US sanctions, which also cut Huawei off from the global supply chain, Huawei is also struggling in the People’s Republic.
Given these difficulties, it is obvious that Huawei is expanding into other tech areas. For example, the manufacturer recently presented an interesting alternative to the Kindle with a pen.
