Huawei retains as the world's third largest smartphone vendor, with more than 40 per cent sales growth last year, reported China Business News on Wednesday.
China's smartphone sales dropped 8.2 per cent to 389 million in 2014, according to a latest report compiled by China Academy of Telecommunication Research. Domestic cell phone brands owned 78.3 per cent market share.
Nomura expects the growth rate of China's smartphone market to continue to slow in 2015 due to saturation of the smartphone adoption rate and operators' subsidy cuts, but Chinese brands will sustain 20 to 25 per cent growth driven primarily by exports demand.
Cloud computing and 5G research
The innovation focus will shift from Internet consumption to Internet industrialisation, said Meng Wanzhou, Chief Finance Officer of Huawei to the News, adding that it's crucial for the company to provide channels to support the shift.
Huawei saw a 27 per cent increase in the unit that provides cloud computing and data services to corporate. Revenue from end products grew 32 per cent in 2014.
"Huawei will invest $600 million on the research of 5G network technology," said Meng, adding that such technology can be used on Google's self-driving car, which requires data transition per metre.
According to the News, the profit margin for Huawei's main business remained at 12 per cent. The company's investment on research and development grew 28 per cent last year to at least 39.5 billion yuan.