According to a recent post by Huawei on Weibo, the Chinese contender to Apple announced plans to hold a product launch event this month just hours after Apple’s annual iPhone reveal. The Huawei launch is scheduled for 10th September at 2:30 p.m. Beijing time.
Across the Pacific, Apple is set to unveil its iPhone 16 lineup on September 9 at its highly anticipated event marketed under the tagline, “It’s Glowtime.” Huawei’s Weibo post did not elucidate any details of a possible product launch, but Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer and automotive technology group, followed up with a Weibo post stating “the company’s “leading, innovative, and disruptive product is here” on Monday.
“This is an epoch-making product that others have thought of but cannot make,” Yu said. Huawei has emerged as a leading smartphone maker, with its 2023 smartphone chip, the Kirin 9000S, that shook policymakers in Washington, who crippled the Shenzhen-headquartered tech firm with hefty US sanctions and limited access to the latest semiconductors from the West. Yu emphasized in the same post that after five years of investment, “Huawei has turned science fiction into reality.”
Huawei’s resurgence due to strategic investments into chip infrastructure have challenged Apple’s presence in the Chinese market. Data from Canalys revealed that Apple lost its position among the top five smartphone vendors in China based on market share in Q2 of 2024. Alternatively, Huawei enjoyed a 41% year-on-year rise in Q2 smartphone shipments.
