Back to basics for Huawei as China remains the bedrock of success

Pretty much everyone in the technology world knows Huawei is under pressure, though with its dominance of the Chinese market, it has more than enough to weather the storm.

According to new estimates from IDC, Huawei has now officially become number one in the market share rankings for tablets in China. These estimates follow smartphone shipment figures which demonstrate extraordinary dominance from the under-fire firm.

Over third quarter of 2019, Huawei shipped 2.12 million tablets, up 24.4% from a year ago, to take 37.4% of the total market. It has leap-frogged Apple to lead the market, the iLeader currently controls 33.8% of shipments, while the rest of the field are no-where near the leading two. Xiaomi currently sits in third position, with market share of 5.9%, a decrease of 47.4% year-on-year.

Although increased tablet sales in China are not going to compensate for the troubles which Huawei are facing in the international markets, alongside the smartphone dominance during the same period, it demonstrates the comfortable position Huawei is currently in.

Talking of smartphone shipments, as you can see from IDC’s figures below, the strong market share position is duplicated.

And even with heavy criticism from the White House, Huawei is maintaining its position as the leading network infrastructure vendor worldwide. In the third quarter, Dell’Oro estimate Huawei owned 28%, though some might suggest this is due to its dominance of the Chinese market. The firm has been missing out on valuable contracts in some European markets though it doesn’t seem to be having a disastrous impact.

Noise from the White House might be starting to have an impact on the Chinese vendors influence on certain Western markets, but let’s not forget how Huawei created such a dominant position in the first place.

Some might suggest the dominance of Chinese companies on the Chinese market is only due to an uneven playing field, Western challengers might be handicapped when it comes to competition, but this is largely irrelevant. This is not a situation which is likely to change in the future, regardless to the number of complaints, therefore it should be accepted.

This dynamic afforded Huawei the confidence to aggressively expand in bygone years, and it will continue to be a comforting thought as uncomfortable aggression floats both directions out of the US.

With continued dominance in the Chinese smartphone, tablet and network infrastructure segments today, Huawei has firmed up its bank accounts. The spreadsheets will not be under anywhere near as much threat as they potentially could have been, as the management team can rely on revenues continue to flow through the domestic market. This is the same position Huawei was in prior to its international expansion.

Huawei is not necessarily a Chinese company anymore. Yes, it was founded in China and the country continues to house its headquarters, but this an international beast with considerable influence around the world. The management team will not be happy its international revenues are being eroded, though the Chinese domestic market can prop this giant up; it is that big.

Irrelevant to the amount of noise coming out of the White House, and regardless of the success it has in convincing its allies to ditch Huawei as a vendor, it will always have the Chinese domestic market to lean on. And as long as it is still one of the country’s leading companies, it will always have the opportunity to expand aggressively internationally. It just has to wait for the anti-China rhetoric to die down, like it did in the early 2010s.