Figures from price-checker sight Pricespy - supplied exclusively to the Herald - indicate Kiwi shoppers' interest in Huawei has dived since the Chinese company was put on a US blacklist.
Pricespy data for January 1 to April 30 this year showed more people searched for the price of Huawei's Nova 3i than any other phone. The rest of the top 10 comprised of various Samsung and Apple models.
But the period May 18 to June 17, Huawei plunged to 10th on Pricespy's chart.
Huawei NZ deputy chief executive Andrew Bowater declined to reveal specific local sales numbers, but said, "Our phones are selling well in New Zealand and globally we sold 10 million P30s in record time – 62 days faster than it took for us to sell this volume of the P20 series."
The P30 is Huawei's flagship smartphone.
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For the period up until April 30 this year, at least, Huawei's worldwide handset sales were booming.
Market tracker IDC found Huawei shipments increased 50.3 per cent 59.1 million in April quarter as rivals Samsung and Apple lost share (and no one else got close to the big three - although China's Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo got closest).
May saw the Trump administration announce its intention to add Huawei to an export blacklist from August.
Current Huawei models were not affected, but Android software maker and app store operator Google, plus chip makers like Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm and Micron Technologies - would not be allowed to supply Huawei with hardware or software for future handsets, or future phone network gear.
But the G20 summit at the end of June saw the US President reversed course, saying "US companies can sell their equipment to Huawei," as long as the transactions won't present a "great, national emergency problem."
Trump's comments were tied to a resumption of trade talks with Beijing. And while the outcome of those talks still hangs in the balance, it appears the skies are clearing for Huawei as the US president ties its fortunes to tariff talks rather than security.
"While the situation between China and the US is not 100% clear at the moment, the dialogue is very encouraging," Huawei's Bowater said late yesterday.
Source / IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, April 30, 2019
"We're working through what the latest developments mean for our business and customers, but it doesn't change that New Zealanders can still have every confidence in their Huawei technology.
"Right from the beginning, I've said it's a shame that New Zealand consumers have been caught up in the cross fire of geopolitics."
