Huawei planning to produce far fewer phones in 2021

Huawei surprised the tech world when it became the leading smartphone brand in the second quarter of 2020 and Samsung overtook the crown. It is widely believed that the manufacturer could benefit from a COVID-19 rebound in its home market of China, while Samsung’s strongholds in Europe and North America were hit hard by the pandemic.

Unfortunately for Huawei, Korean socket The Elec Now the brand reports that it wants to produce far fewer smartphones in 2021. Huawei reportedly told its South Korean subcontractors that it plans to produce just 50 million units over the next year.

How does that compare to 2020? Well, it would be a 74% decrease from expected shipments of 190 million units this year. In addition, Huawei shipped over 55 million units in the second quarter of 2020 alone. The Korean publication adds that the U.S. ban is directly responsible for the apparent 2021 number.

The effects of the US ban

Huawei has been impacted by US sanctions against the company that banned the company from using Google services on its new devices, while banning the use of many US components. Washington’s move to stop chipmaker TSMC from making Huawei’s own Kirin chips, however, means the company will have to rely on other chipmakers, inventory of existing processors, as well as chips from MediaTek.

In addition, the Chinese giant will rely on Chinese company SMIC to make some of its Kirin chips. However, it recently emerged that the US could also take action against SMIC.

The move to Huawei could open the door for other players to expand and The ElecAccording to sources, Samsung plans to be aggressive in Europe and India over the next year. According to the outlet, Samsung is using the US measures against the tensions between Huawei and China and India to target Europe and India respectively. In particular, Samsung is expected to deliver 300 million smartphones in the next year.

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