Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, April 28 (TMTPOST) — Chinese telecom giant Huawei’s revenues in Q1 went down by 13.9% year-on-year to 131 billion yuan.

The company’s net profit rate also went down by 6.8 percentage points year-on-year to 4.3%.

In 2021, Huawei’s Consumer Business Group made 243.4 billion yuan, down nearly 50% year-on-year, according to the company’s earnings report. The company had recently changed the name of its Consumer Business Group to Device Business Group. It was also announced that Huawei’s Device Business Group will enter the field of equipment for national defense. In the future, Huawei’s Device Business Group will focus on consumer electronics and national defense equipment.

Hu Houkun, Deputy & Rotating Chairman of Huawei's Board of Directors, said that Huawei is looking at the device business from a new perspective. “The smartphone business is important. But we have more than the smartphone business,” Hu explained. “We have brought forward the 1+8+N strategy to construct an all-scenario intelligent experience. Secondly, it is also important to have good coordination between the hardware and software. It has become a clear strategy for us to build a good ecosystem of software.”

Huawei’s revenues went down for the first time since its founding as the company faced external boycotts. Huawei’s smartphone business has been struggling under U.S. sanctions. The Trump administration put the company on a blacklist that restricts it from accessing critical components such as advanced semiconductors from U.S. suppliers. However, the company had maintained record-high investment in research and development. On April 25, Huawei announced a plan to recruit young talents across the globe, promising to offer a base salary that is five times higher than the average in the industry.

“The overall revenues were in line with our expectations. Our consumer business faced a more profound impact while the ICT business had maintained steady growth,” Hu said. “The company has been increasing investment in research and development to maintain the capacity to innovate and create value for our customers.”