Huawei denies reports that it has halted smartphone production due to US ban

Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer that assembles iPhones and PlayStation 4 consoles, has stopped several production lines for several Huawei phones in recent days.

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The US alleges that Huawei has close ties with the Chinese government.

Update: Huawei has issued a statement denying any suspension of production lines. In an official statement, the company said, “Recent media reports are propagating a rumour that Huawei is cutting back production of smartphones in response to its placement on the US Commerce Department’s entity list. Huawei refutes these claims. Our global production levels are normal, with no notable adjustments in either direction.”

Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer that assembles iPhones and PlayStation 4 consoles, has stopped several production lines for several Huawei phones in recent days. According to a report from the South China Morning Post, Huawei has reduced orders for new phones amid an ongoing US export ban on the Chinese tech giant.

Huawei originally set out a target to surpass Samsung as the world’s largest smartphone maker by 2020. However, the tussle between the US and Chinese phone maker has crushed Huawei’s dreams to become the number one smartphone maker by next year.

“As the new situation has emerged, it is too early to say whether we are able to achieve the goal,” Zhao Ming, the president of Honor said, responding to questions about Huawei’s plans to overtake Samsung as the world’s largest smartphone vendor by 2020. In Q1 2019, Huawei shipped an estimated 59.1 million smartphones worldwide, according to research firm IDC. The company is the second largest smartphone maker behind Samsung and ahead of Apple.

The news of Foxconn halting production lines for several lines for Huawei phones is an early indication of how the US ban could damage the company’s smartphone business. Last month, the Trump administration had put Huawei on a trade backlist that barred the company from doing any business with the North American firms without approval.

Several companies including Intel and Qualcomm were forced to cut off ties with the controversial Chinese company. Google too was forced to suspend Huawei’s Android license, meaning all future versions of Huawei phones will lose access to popular Google apps such as Maps and YouTube. The US alleges that Huawei has close ties with the Chinese government.

Also read: How Trump’s Huawei ban could impact the global tech industry

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Meanwhile, Huawei says it has been developing its own mobile operating system, according to the company’s mobile business chief Richard Yu. The operating system, likely to be called Ark OS, will run on a number of devices including smartphones, laptops, tablets, wearables, and TVs. The Huawei OS will reportedly hit the market as soon as this year.

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