Huawei Cancels New Laptop Launch Due To The US Trade War

Sundar Pichai - Jun 26, 2019

Huawei has indefinitely postponed the imminent launch of a new Windows laptop and the company can not say exactly when the product will be launched again.

As a consequence of the trade war between the two countries, the US government has put a ban on Chinese firms which may threaten the country's national security. Following the ban, any company under the ‘blacklist’ is barred from buying products made by American suppliers. Being the market leader of telecommunications-equipment industry in China, Huawei absolutely can’t avoid the prohibition, which is strongly affecting the company’s business.

Last month, new Huawei phone model P30 Lite launch was postponed in Japan because of distributors’ concerns about warranty issues. And recently, Huawei had to cancel their new laptop launch indefinitely, also due to the ban from the US.

Huawei-cancel-laptop-launch — Huawei had to cancel their new laptop introduction indefinitely.

How long will the ban last?

As Huawei said in an interview with CNBC, a majority of its products’ main parts are imported from the US tech companies, including both software and hardware. For example, the most advanced laptop model Matebook X Pro runs on Microsoft Windows and uses Intel’s chip, two American corporations.

Huawei-Laptop — A majority of Huawei products’ main parts are imported from the US tech companies.

This is the first time Huawei ever postponed a laptop launch as a result of the US restriction. Unfortunately, the company can not say exactly when they have the product come out in the future. It depended on how long the Entity List would last. That’s mean the laptop won’t be launched until Huawei finds out an alternative solution, or the US government ends the ban.

It not only harms several products

Running on a race to win the first place as a telecommunication firm across the world, Huawei clearly does not just stay in silence and wait for luck. They have been developing their own operating system, with the purpose to replace Google Android. However, most of the company's devices still rely on US technologies for all other parts. And that’s becoming their trouble now.

Huawei-P30-Lite — Most of Huawei's devices still rely on US technologies for all other parts

In 2018, Huawei’s consumer business, including laptops, smartphones or smart devices, was the largest division by revenues of the company. Simultaneously, the company said it wanted to become the biggest PC producer and the top smartphone maker in the world.

With the current restriction from the US, it might take a long time before the Chinese firm can realize its ambition.