Now Huawei is Looking to Sell Off Mate, P Smartphone Lines
- Paul Thurrott
- Jan 25, 2021
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Two months after it jettisoned its Honor smartphone brand, a new report claims that Huawei is shopping its flagship Mate and P lines as well.
Huawei is allegedly in early-stage talks to sell off its flagship Mate and P smartphone brands to a consortium of Chinese government-backed investment firms, a new report in Reuter claims, citing two sources. Talks have been ongoing for months, with initial discussions happening as long ago as September.
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It’s not clear how much Huawei is asking for the smartphone families, but Reuters notes that Huawei’s Mate and P series phones “were worth” $39.7 billion between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020, according to IDC. But it’s not clear if that valuation is based on revenues or some other metric. By comparison, Huawei sold off its mainstream Honor smartphone line in mid-November for an undisclosed sum to a consortium of 40 companies; that product line had sales of 70 million units in the previous year.
Since the sale, the new Honor has reestablished ties with Google, Intel, Qualcomm, and other Android suppliers, bypassing the backlisting that Huawei is currently operating under. One naturally assumes that Huawei is now trying to provide a similar second life for its flagship smartphones by letting them go. And that the firm believes that the shift to the Biden administration in the U.S. won’t positively impact its relationship with that country.
But for now, Huawei claims that there’s no truth to the rumors.
“Huawei has learned there are unsubstantiated rumors circulating regarding the possible sale of our flagship smartphone brands,” a Huawei statement notes. “There is no merit to these rumors whatsoever. Huawei has no such plan.”