Huawei targets 200 million smartphone sales by the end of 2018, Kevin Ho

Huawei, the Chinese giant for smartphones, just launched its flagship Mate 20 models that are garnering praise for its sleek design, camera quality and charging options. In a dedicated event for journalists in London, Global Head of Handsets Huawei, Kevin Ho shared the secret sauce of the smartphone brand’s success.

In a short span of time, Huawei has emerged as a leading smartphone brand by focusing on consumers’ demands and addressing their pain points. Ho shared that most consumers are concerned about battery life and camera effect. Therefore, Huawei invest 10% of annual revenues in Research & Development to build high tech smartphones that meet consumer needs through top notch performance, longest battery life and the best cameras.

Speaking about customer segments for difference ranges, Ho shared that entry-level smartphone users tend to look for more storage as compared to high-end users who have a focus on battery life and camera quality. Therefore, Huawei’s flagship products are tailored for each customer segment, keeping the customer needs in mind. Therefore, Huawei also offers an entry and mid-range variant for its flagship series to suit the brand offering.

To strike a balance between brand value and sale numbers, Huawei offers this multiple range of smartphones. If it only focuses on high-end devices, the brand might grow but not the sale numbers. Huawei continues to learn and discover this balance.

When talking about numbers, Ho shared that Huawei is aiming to maintain its leadership in the headset business. It is focusing to sell over 200 million units in 2018 only to achieve a 25% growth from its previous year record of selling 150 million units.

Ho is confident that Mate 20 series will outperform Mate 10 series in terms of numbers of unit sold. Sharing specs of the newest smartphone series, Ho said it packs futuristic design, longer battery life, the Matrix camera system, and the latest Android OS to bring a premium user experience to Mate 20 customers.

Ho also shared that Honor will continue to operate as a separate smartphone brand and will be sold online in market segments that have dense e-commerce ecosystem.

Earlier this month, Huawei surpassed Apple to become the second largest manufacturer of smartphones. The Chinese smartphone giant secured a market share of 15.4 percent by shipping 54.2 million headsets. It experienced a 41 percent increase in unit sales year on year. With a strong focus on R&D to meet consumer needs, Huawei is showing undeterred commitment to inch closer towards dominating the smartphone industry.