Our reporter Qin Xiao reports from Beijing
2023 is a year of gradual recovery for Huawei.
On March 29, 2024, Huawei released its 2023 annual report, which showed that Huawei's overall operating performance was in line with expectations, achieving global sales revenue of RMB 704.2 billion and net profit of RMB 87 billion. The ICT infrastructure business remained stable, the terminal business performed in line with expectations, the cloud computing and digital energy businesses achieved good growth, and the intelligent vehicle solutions business began to enter the stage of large-scale delivery. In terms of R&D, R&D investment in 2023 will reach RMB164.7 billion, accounting for 23.4% of annual revenue, and the cumulative R&D expenditure over the past ten years will exceed RMB1 trillion.
Previously, Huawei's rotating chairman Ken Hu said that after several years of hard work, the company has stood firm in the severe test, and its operation has basically returned to normal. "In 2023, Huawei's overall business performance was in line with expectations, and Huawei has experienced many challenges and continued to grow in the past few years. It is the trust and support of customers, partners, and all sectors of society that have helped Huawei survive and grow. ”
The terminal business returned to double-digit growthIn 2023, Huawei's ICT infrastructure business achieved sales revenue of RMB 362 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.3%, cloud computing business sales revenue of RMB 55.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.9%, and digital power business sales revenue of RMB 52.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%.
The high-profile terminal business achieved sales revenue of 251.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.3%, returning to double-digit growth. It is worth noting that Huawei's performance in the first half of 2023 shows that its terminal business revenue is 103.5 billion yuan, that is, in the second half of the year alone, Huawei's terminal business revenue will be nearly 150 billion yuan.
You must know that due to several years of U.S. "sanctions", Huawei's terminal business (known as "consumer business" before April 2022) has been struggling. According to Huawei's 2021 annual report, the revenue of its consumer business was 243.431 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 49.6%, which is also the first decline in its consumer business, and the scale of revenue has nearly halved. Among them, the decline in mobile phone business is the main reason. In 2022, Huawei's terminal business revenue will be 214.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 12%.
That changed on August 29, 2023. On the same day, Huawei launched the "HUAWEI Mate60Pro Pioneer Program", known as "the most powerful Mate mobile phone in history", and subsequently, Huawei's folding screen mobile phone MateX5 series also joined the Pioneer Program.
The new Mate series of mobile phones has made Huawei stage a "return of heroes" drama in the mobile phone market. IDC statistics show that in the fourth quarter of last year, the market share of the top brands declined compared with the same period in 2022, Apple, Honor, vivo, and OPPO fell by 2.1%, 0.9%, 8.4%, and 16.1% year-on-year respectively, while Huawei stood out, increasing by 36.2% year-on-year, and China's market share reached 13.9%, returning to fourth place, while Xiaomi was squeezed out of the top five on the list. In addition, statistics from Canalys show that in the fourth quarter of 2023, Huawei's domestic shipments soared by 47% year-on-year.
On March 5, 2024, data from Counterpoint Research, a market research agency, showed that in the first six weeks of this year, Huawei's mobile phone sales soared by 64%, and its market share rose from 9.4% to 16.5%, surpassing Apple.
However, judging from the global market in 2023, Huawei still does not enter the top five. IDC data shows that in 2023, the top five manufacturers in terms of global smartphone shipments, market share and year-on-year growth are Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO and Transsion. Specifically, in 2023, Apple will ship 235 million mobile phones, accounting for more than 20% of the market, Samsung will ship 227 million units, with a market share of 19.4%, and Xiaomi will rank third in global shipments, with 146 million shipments, accounting for 12.5% of the market. OPPO and Transsion shipped 100 million and 94.9 million units, respectively, accounting for 8.8% and 8.1% of the market, respectively.
The smart car solutions business is expected to turn a profitThe intelligent vehicle solutions business achieved sales revenue of RMB4.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 128.1%.
It is worth noting that Yu Chengdong, executive director of Huawei, CEO of the Consumer BG, and chairman of the intelligent vehicle solution BU, previously said at the 2024 China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum that in the past few years, the car BU has been in a state of loss. However, at the same time, he also said: "In the first three months (2024), Huawei's smart car business has turned a profit, and Huawei's intelligent vehicle solution BU business is close to the edge of breakeven. ”
Yu Chengdong's "confidence" comes from the surge in the number of orders from the Wenjie series and Zhijie. At present, there are three main forms of cooperation between Huawei and car companies: one is to sell standardized auto parts products, the second is to provide full-stack intelligent car solutions with Huawei Inside (HI model), and the third is to deeply participate in product and vehicle design and provide intelligent selection of sales network channels, namely "HarmonyOS Zhixing", which is a member of the HarmonyOS Zhixing Ecological Alliance.
Since the launch of the new M7 in September 2023, deliveries of the Wenjie series have remained high. According to the statistics released by the Passenger Association, in February, the M7 once again achieved sales of more than 20,000 units, reaching 21,083 units, successfully defending the top sales volume in the domestic medium and large SUV market, and the cumulative orders of the M9 since its launch have approached 60,000 units.
Previously, Hu Houkun emphasized: "In 2024, all business units should focus on value creation and more food. For the terminal business and intelligent vehicle solution business, he said that the terminal continues to be committed to building king products and building a high-end brand with temperature. We will work with partners to accelerate the transformation of mobile applications into HarmonyOS, achieve a historic leap in the HarmonyOS ecosystem, and provide consumers with the ultimate experience in all scenarios. Intelligent Vehicle Solutions works with partners to turn technological advantages into business success. Each business responsibility unit should not only inspire confidence, but also not blindly optimistic, and do a good job in risk identification, especially to manage inventory risks, and improve operational efficiency.
(Editor: Zhang Jingchao Proofreader: Yan Jingning)