Huawei Launches Mate 90 With Homegrown Chip as Overseas Sales Shrink to Several Million
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Oct 8
Huawei Launches Mate 90 With Homegrown Chip as Overseas Sales Shrink to Several Million
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Oct 8
Summary
Oct. 1 marked Huawei’s release of the Mate 90 series, its first smartphone powered by the in-house LogicFolding chip, as the company leans harder into self-developed phones.
2019 U.S. restrictions cut Huawei off from Google’s Android and TSMC-made semiconductors, helping drive overseas smartphone sales down from more than 240 million shipped globally in 2019 to only several million a year now.
Richard Yu said Huawei wants to rebuild overseas share and plans to expand HarmonyOS abroad within one to three years, betting China’s chip capacity will eventually support exports of devices using its own chips.
That push comes as China’s smartphone market posted double-digit year-on-year declines in August and September, while Huawei’s consumer business has only partly recovered to about $51 billion in 2025 from roughly $34 billion in 2021.
Huawei also faces pressure in cars: HIMA deliveries fell 29% in September to just under 37,500 vehicles, underscoring why the company is refocusing on phones even after signing a new five-year Aito partnership with Seres.