Huawei wants to be the next Apple

published 11 April 2016

Huawei wants its consumer devices to compete with the likes of Samsung and Apple on the global stage.

Speaking at the company's annual analyst conference in Shenzhen, rotating CEO Eric Xu said Hauwei intends to "leverage its technical expertise to build a premium, high end brand [of smartphones]."

"We are committed to building an ecosystem with customers at the centre to build our reputation and loved brand," he said.

Xu's comments come less than one week after the launch of the Huawei P9 smartphone, a device that is intended to penetrate the premium market and which the company compared directly with the iPhone 6s Plus.

In February, at MWC, Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, was reported as saying the company wanted to become the biggest smartphone vendor in the world, leapfrogging Apple and Samsung, within two-to-three years.

However, during a Q&A session at this week's conference, Xu clarified that Yu's comments referred to the Chinese market alone, claiming his colleague had been misquoted.

However, Xu added: "Having said that, it's definitely a firm strategic choice we have made to put Huawei device as a high-end device across the world. Up until today, China has not produced a high-end brand yet, therefore one can see that's a target we're reaching and in the next five-to-ten years we can possibly [overtake Samsung and Apple], but we are not sure whether that can be achieved."

Huawei Analyst Conference is taking place in Shenzhen from 11 to 12 April. IT Pro's Senior Writer, Jane McCallion, will be reporting live across both days of the conference.

Jane McCallion is Managing Editor of ITPro and ChannelPro, specializing in data centers, enterprise IT infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Before becoming Managing Editor, she held the role of Deputy Editor and, prior to that, Features Editor, managing a pool of freelance and internal writers, while continuing to specialize in enterprise IT infrastructure, and business strategy.

Prior to joining ITPro, Jane was a freelance business journalist writing as both Jane McCallion and Jane Bordenave for titles such as European CEO, World Finance, and Business Excellence Magazine.