World fastest smartphone from Huawei
CHINESE low-cost smartphone manufacturer Huawei is further encroaching on the territory of waning technology veterans such as HTC as it launches the world’s fastest smartphone, the Ascend D quad.
The world’s number two network equipment maker specialises in sub-$200 smartphones and is swiftly stealing customers from its pricier rivals.
In its 2010 financial year, Huawei generated revenues of 185.2bn Chinese yuan (£18.5bn) and pocketed profits of 23.76bn yuan – up 24 and 30 per cent respectively on the previous year.
Alongside its market rival ZTE, Huawei has been held partially responsible for declining income at firms such as HTC, which saw fourth quarter revenues fall by 23 per cent on the third quarter and expects sales to drop a further 35.5 per cent in the coming three months.
Huawei is also one of the reasons global champion Apple only ranks fifth in the Chinese phone market.
And now the telecoms group is set for further growth as it launches the world’s fastest smartphone – a 4.5 inch touchscreen handset on Google’s Android 4.0 operating system, available from April 2012.
This announcement follows a busy year for the phone maker, which teamed up with Everything Everywhere in 2011 to upgrade its 2G network and is a favourite to win the contract to update the network to 4G later this year.
Huawei also donated £50m towards the development of a mobile network on the London Underground before the project fell through.
FAST FACTS | HUAWEI
● Founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s headquarters are in Shenzhen, China.
● Huawei, a partner of BT, announced in January it had bought a fibre-optic cable research laboratory in East Anglia for $10m.