Apple is looking to make the most of Huawei’s recent ban on smartphone sales. It is ramping up production to meet increased demand in markets starved of smartphones.
According to Analysts, Apple flogged almost 40-million smartphones this quarter alone – with a majority of units being the most recent iPhone XR, XS and XS Max models. It’s expecting to sell even more next quarter.
Huawei is in Donald Trump’s bad books due to a breakdown in trade negotiations between the United States and China.
Huawei has been told it will cease receiving updates to its Android operating system starting this summer, as Google is under order to stop supplying the company (although, developments are still ongoing with Donald Trump tweeting just this weekend that he had a “better than expected” meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping).
Despite this, Apple is not resting on its laurels. By ramping up production, it hopes to gain some ground in the time it takes this trade agreement to be hammered out.
But Huawei isn’t sitting still either. The Chinese smartphone maker is expected to unveil a brand new self-made mobile operating system for customers in China, and then it will move into other markets.
Whether or not a new operating system – even one produced by the current third largest smartphone maker (market share of around 14% worldwide) – can make a dent in the current duopoly that is Apple iOS and Google Android is another question entirely.
