Huawei Technologies became the world's top smartphone seller, passing rival Samsung for the first time due to strong demand in the second quarter of this year, according to Richard Yu, CEO of the Huawei Consumer Business Group, at the 2020 China Info 100 Summit that kicked off in Shenzhen on Friday.
Huawei consumer business revenue in the first half of the year was 255.8 billion yuan (US$36.74 billion) and global sales of smartphones reached 105 million units, Yu said. He said the increase was due to strong sales of high-end products, but gave no further details.
Yu also said the production of Kirin chips, designed by Huawei's own engineers, will stop Sept. 15 because they are made by contractors that need U.S. manufacturing technology.
He said Huawei lacks the ability to make its own chips.
"Unfortunately, in the second round of U.S. sanctions, our chip producers only accepted orders until May 15. Production will close Sept. 15. This is a very big loss for us," Yu said at the summit.
