The Huawei ban in the United States is taking a toll on this year’s global smartphone shipments. Research firm Canalys has cut its 2019 forecast to 1.35 billion units, down 3.1% from 2018.
Canalys said the cut is based on the ban’s impact on Huawei’s ability to roll out new devices in the short term in the event of trade talk impasses.
While the industry is usually quick to make changes to minimize costs, such as by moving production to different countries to avoid tariffs, smartphone shipments will most likely take a hit this time.
“[W]ith recent US announcements on tariffs on goods from more countries, the industry will be dealing with turmoil for some time,” said Nicole Peng, VP of Mobility at Canalys.
In March, before the US government blacklisted the Chinese telecoms giant, Huawei’s consumer business group CEO Richard Yu said his company could outsell Samsung and Apple.
But that ambition has since faded. A recent report by Fubon Research and Strategy Analytics said Huawei’s smartphone production could fall by as much as 24% in 2019 because of the US ban.