Due to U.S. sanctions that cut it off from essential parts, Huawei debuted the flagship Mate 50 in China without 5G internet access.
As a competitor to the widely used Global Positioning System, controlled by the U.S. government, Huawei says that this is the first smartphone made available to the general public that can connect to China’s Beidou (GPS).
As it looks to the car sector as a new route for expansion, Huawei also unveiled the AITO M5 electric vehicle in partnership with Chinese automaker Seres.
In order to link to China’s Beidou global positioning system, Huawei unveiled a premium smartphone, which the company says is the first of its kind.
The move coincides with the company’s efforts to stay competitive in the mobile industry after U.S. sanctions severely hurt its mobile phone operations.
On Tuesday, the Chinese technology giant unveiled the Mate 50 smartphone, together with the MatePad Pro tablet and Watch GT 3 Pro timepiece.
The Mate 50 from Huawei has a new camera with four lenses placed in a circle on the back. Additionally, the phone is powered by Harmony 3.0, the most recent iteration of Huawei’s in-house operating system. Harmony 3.0 was first made available in 2019 after the business was barred from using Google’s Android software as a result of U.S. sanctions.
Additionally, because to U.S. sanctions preventing the firm from obtaining the crucial chip needed for 5G connection, the Mate 50 does not support it. The phone connects to 4G networks from earlier generations instead.
Huawei asserts that this is the first smartphone that has been made available to the general public that can connect to China’s Beidou satellite networking. A competitor to the widely used Global Positioning System (GPS), which is controlled by the US government and was finished in 2020, is Beidou.
Beidou connectivity allows users to continue sending messages even if they lose contact with a terrestrial mobile network, as may happen if they’re in a distant location.
The Mate 50 went on pre-sale in China on Tuesday, with the lower-spec Mate 50 Pro starting at 6,799 yuan ($1,006) and a starting price of 4,999 yuan ($718).
After being cut off from vital parts and software and having its business severely damaged by U.S. sanctions, Huawei is attempting to stay relevant in the smartphone industry. In the past, Huawei dominated the smartphone industry, but it currently has a relatively limited market share.
The business is betting that sales of its other goods, including the tablet, wristwatch, and other accessories, can make up some of the lost ground.
The Electric Vehicle Initiative Of Huawei
However, during the past two years, Huawei—which first gained notoriety for its telecoms equipment business—has shifted its focus to new growth markets like software and cloud computing.
With an emphasis on electric vehicles, Huawei has more recently been expanding its automotive technology business. The company, however, is not a vehicle manufacturer and is based in Shenzhen, in southern China. Instead, it is working with manufacturers to supply the technology for specific elements of the car.
Tuesday saw the debut of the AITO M5 electric car from Huawei and Seres, a Chinese manufacturer. The car’s entertainment and digital cockpit systems run on Huawei’s Harmony OS operating system, which also has a computer system that can change the torque of the engine. According to Huawei, it enhances vehicle control.
To get a piece of the rapidly expanding EV industry, a number of Chinese technology companies, including the dominant search engine Baidu and smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, have entered it.
Alongside BAIC and Changan, two state-owned automakers in China, Huawei has previously introduced automobiles.
