Huawei Aiming to Become the Biggest Smartphone Maker; To Launch Daydream-Ready Phone This Fall

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 3 Jun 2016

Huawei P9 - oblique view of display and bottom logo

Huawei’s CEO Richard Yu has revealed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the company will be launching its first Daydream compatible smartphone later this fall. He also said that the Chinese company is looking to become the number-one smartphone manufacturer in the world. 

Yu further adds that the road to becoming the number-one smartphone maker is a long distance one, and that the company is patent enough to be a part of this race.

Despite the smartphone market slowing and players like HTC and LG struggling, Huawei has managed to carve a market for itself. Its growth over the last couple of years has been tremendous that has seen it rank among the top 5 smartphone vendors in 2015.

“Our growth is mainly coming from the high-end, premium segment,” Mr. Yu said. “If you want to be the leading vendor you have to lead in the high-end.”

Talking about the company’s partnership with Leica, Yu said that it is an exclusive long-term commitment and he expects both companies to work together for at least the next five years.

The CEO also confirmed that Huawei will be releasing its first Daydream-compatible smartphone later this year. Huawei is among the top OEMs that have confirmed their support to Daydream, Google’s VR platform based on Android.

Despite Huawei’s staggering growth, the company has been missing from the US market. This is largely due to a ban on the company’s networking equipments in the country after a report claimed that it could be used by the Chinese authorities for spying purposes. Yu, however, said that this has not affected the company’s decision to sell its smartphones in the United States, and that in fact, the company is talking to various operators to sell their smartphones through them.

[Via Wall Street Journal]