What Display Daily thinks: With so much of the display industry’s prognostications about future shipments relying on the leadership provided by Apple, a resurgent Huawei creates new strategic imperatives.
It’s not so much about Apple’s shortcomings or failures, but more of a reflection on how the economic downturn and US-China tensions on technology are creating new dynamics in the market. How does this change things for the display industry? It certainly opens up the market for Samsung and LG competitors in China who can leverage the situation not only to grow their own smartphone display sales to a homegrown giant, but also in applying that same leverage to making inroads with Apple where the Korean giants have a distinct technical advantage.
Apple will be wary of Huawei and will want to stay close to its suppliers. In the meantime, Samsung has its own dominance in smartphone sales that it can exploit for its own display business. LG could get left behind. As the giants of the industry dance around each other, it creates pressure on capacity and pricing at a time when display companies, no matter how big, have plenty to struggle with. The likely winner of all should be MicroLED. Clearly, the OLED battleground is more heated for Korean and Chinese companies than they probably anticipated a few years ago. US sanctions are helping to create a “necessity is the mother of invention” type of scenario for China’s display industry.
Accelerating MicroLED development and moving the tech goalposts should be a priority for Samsung and LG if they are to stay ahead of the curve in the market. The knock-on effect for the MicroLED industry could be more M&A activity, more strategic partnerships, and more investment in accelerating mass market production capabilities, bringing timelines forward. One can only hope that this happens. And, we can’t forget the possibilities of flexible and foldable displays which still represent a very small segment of the total smartphone market.
Huawei’s Strong Q3’23 Preformance
Huawei reported strong financial results for the third quarter, with a 118% YoY increase in net profit. The results were boosted by robust initial sales of the company’s newest flagship smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro. Huawei’s Q3 revenue increased slightly to 145.7 billion yuan ($20.2 billion), up from 144.2 billion yuan in the year-ago quarter. In addition to the Kirin chip, analysts attribute Huawei’s improving profitability to cost cutting initiatives and one-off gains from recent business unit sales.
The Mate 60 Pro is Huawei’s first smartphone to use its in-house Kirin processor since 2020. The Kirin 9000 chip is built on a 7nm manufacturing process by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), marking a breakthrough for Huawei after US sanctions cut the company off from overseas chip suppliers.
According to third-party estimates, Huawei sold approximately 1.5 million Mate 60 Pro units in the launch month. This represents over 2x growth compared to the Mate 50 series launch last year. However, Huawei continues to face supply constraints on the new devices.
The Mate 60 series rollout directly competed with the launch of Apple’s iPhone 14 series in China. Third-party data from GfK shows iPhone sales declined 6% year-over-year in its launch month, while Huawei surged. This suggests Huawei is regaining lost ground in the premium smartphone market, although Apple still maintains a commanding overall lead. Huawei’s Q3 revenue increased slightly to 145.7 billion yuan ($20.2 billion), up from 144.2 billion yuan in the year-ago quarter. In addition to the Kirin chip, analysts attribute Huawei’s improving profitability to cost cutting initiatives and one-off gains from recent business unit sales.
The smartphone market in China continues to face headwinds, with IDC reporting a 6.3% year-over-year shipment decline in Q3. However, Huawei’s performance shows it remains a major player despite ongoing US trade restrictions. Its continued progress in developing in-house processors could strengthen its position against rivals Apple and leading Chinese brands.
The Mate 60 Pro is Huawei’s first smartphone to use its in-house Kirin processor since 2020. The Kirin 9000 chip is built on a 7nm manufacturing process by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), marking a breakthrough for Huawei after US sanctions cut the company off from overseas chip suppliers.
According to Bloomberg’s analysis, Huawei sold approximately 1.5 million Mate 60 Pro units in the launch month. This represents over 2x growth compared to the Mate 50 series launch last year. However, Huawei continues to face supply constraints on the new devices.
The Mate 60 series rollout directly competed with the launch of Apple’s iPhone 15 series in China. The numbers from various research sources suggest that iPhone sales declined 6% YoY in its launch month, while Huawei surged. This suggests Huawei is regaining lost ground in the premium smartphone market, although Apple still maintains a commanding overall lead.
Huawei’s performance shows it remains a major player despite ongoing US trade restrictions. Its continued progress in developing in-house processors could strengthen its position against rivals Apple and leading Chinese brands.
