Huawei would have discovered a way to continue selling mobile phones without the limitations that it now suffers from the blockade imposed by the United States, which affect both hardware and software.
The Chinese manufacturer, which in its day was one of the great giants of the industry, was included in the ‘blacklist’ of the Department of Commerce by the Trump administration in 2019; Since then, Huawei has been unable to do business with US companies, and it has shown in the production of its devices. Its latest ‘premium’ model, the , does not have 5G connectivity nor can it include Google apps; as the app store used by most Android phones.
Despite everything, Huawei has not stopped being optimistic, trusting that things will soon return to normal; and you may have already found a way to achieve it. As revealed, Huawei has discovered a legal loophole through which its mobiles could avoid all these limitations.
Simply, Huawei would only have to license its smartphone designs to third parties, so that they are the ones that manufacture them. Therefore, technically Huawei would not be the manufacturer and its name would not appear on the device; although you could continue to receive income from these license sales. The buyer of these licenses would not suffer the blockade and could obtain the necessary components and software to sell these mobiles.
This ‘third party’ would be PTAC, a government company that already sells Huawei models in China, such as the recent one; The next step in this relationship would be for PTAC to sell its own mobiles under its own brand, which were actually Huawei models. Presumably, these models would have access to technologies like 5G and the Google app store, if PTAC reaches the necessary agreements.
Objective: not to exit the market
This could be the only way for Huawei to maintain a position in the commercial sector, after its launches have slowed considerably in the last two years. That seems to be the priority, according to Bloomberg: Huawei wants to avoid leaving the market at all costs, and that is the motivation behind launches like the P50 or the Nova 9. Although these are not best sellers, Huawei prefers to continue with one foot in the sector. , rather than close the mobile division; He is aware that reopening it when the situation improves would be much more difficult.
It is this ambition to survive in the mobile market that led Huawei to separate from Honor, its low-cost brand; Since then, Honor has returned to selling Android phones in Spain, like the new one (very similar to the Huawei Nova 9).
However, the real question is whether the situation will really improve for Huawei, or if this loophole will be closed. Despite initial hopes, Joe Biden has not loosened the fist that his predecessor closed, quite the contrary; last week he signed new legislation that prohibits blacklisted companies from receiving telecommunications licences. Huawei received 3,000 licenses from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) in the last three years despite the blockade; now, the FCC will have to pay $1.9 billion to carriers that bought Huawei equipment in this period of time in exchange for their return.
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