Huawei CBG reveals strong 2016 performance

Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) has revealed its expected 2016 annual performance figures. For 2016, CBG predicts sales revenue of 178 billion RMB, 42% up from a year ago, achieving steady growth for the fifth consecutive year. Smartphone shipments also reached 139 million units with 29% year-on-year growth; according to IDC, the increasing rate of global smartphone shipments was only 0.6% in 2016, which means Huawei is outperforming the overall market.

Richard Yu, CEO, Huawei CBG, said, “Despite tough market conditions, Huawei CBG is still growing with industry-leading speed. This can be attributed to our consumer- and innovation-centric approach, as well as our ongoing commitment to building a premium brand, reinforcing our global channels and ensuring consistent, high-quality service. In 2017, we will strengthen our supply chain, channels, R&D, services and any other areas required to streamline our operations, improve the efficiency of our decision-making and implementation, drive our internationalization strategy and proactively develop future capacity.”

In 2016, Huawei CBG has focussed on developing meaningful innovations and has made breakthroughs in the areas of operating system (EMUI based on Android), dual-camera technology, artificial intelligence and more.

For pre-sales and after-sales, Huawei built five global service centres that support 105 countries through hotline services. Huawei also has over 460 service stores covering 45 countries around the world. According to IPSOS research figures, Huawei ranks No. 1 in customer satisfaction among users in China, Poland, Mexico, Egypt and many other countries.

For brand building, in 2016 Huawei focussed on developing world-class global marketing campaigns and entered design, fashion, entertainment, sports and other fields that resonate with its diverse target audiences on an emotional level. Huawei successfully recruited global football icon, Lionel Messi to be a Huawei ambassador and Hollywood stars Henry Cavill and Scarlett Johansson as P9 spokespeople.

In 2016, Huawei CBG broke into the European high-end market and gained balanced and steady growth in many markets around the world. Huawei’s overseas smartphone shipments equalled domestic shipments and its mid-high-end handset shipments rose to 36%.

In Europe, Huawei CBG has achieved great breakthroughs in the European high-end market, thanks to strong sales of P9 and P9 Plus. GFK data showed that currently Huawei holds over 15% market share in 30 countries and over 20% in another 20 countries, half of which are European countries. In North-East Europe and Western Europe, Huawei’s market share exceeded 15% and 10%, respectively. Particularly in some northern European countries, Huawei holds a dominant market share and in the UK, France, Germany and other key markets, Huawei CBG has made significant progress.

In China, Huawei’s market share exceeded 20% for the first time in November 2016 and dominated the US$500–600 high-end market.

In 2017, Huawei CBG will continue to put consumer needs first and will develop a consumer-facing system focused on channels, retail, brand, marketing and services, to strengthen its business base and streamline its operations and customer service. In the meantime, Huawei is committed to making further breakthroughs in innovation that will help consumers have a more intelligent, connected lifestyle. We will continue building on our core competencies to lead the future and become a popular cultural and technical brand for consumers.