Huawei unveiled on Thursday a new range of smartphones that it hopes will help it sustain its comeback in China and increase its competitiveness against Apple in the market.
TakeAway Points:
- Huawei unveiled the Pura 70 series of smartphones on Thursday in an attempt to strengthen its position against Apple in the region and maintain its comeback in China.
- It is the most recent example of Huawei’s increasing confidence following the covert release of its Mate 60 smartphone, which had a high-end chip, earlier this year.
- With capabilities that rival Apple’s iPhone 15 range, Huawei has crammed the handsets with high-end smartphone functionality.
Huawei Releases the Pura 70 series
Huawei unveiled the Pura 70 series, which takes the place of the “P series” of devices that the company first introduced in 2012. This is the latest example of Huawei’s growing confidence, as it raised eyebrows in Washington last year when it quietly unveiled its Mate 60 smartphone, which featured a high-end chip.
Huawei’s smartphone industry was nearly destroyed by these penalties, which went into effect in 2019.
Huawei is currently making a return attempt. According to Counterpoint Research, during the first half of 2024, the company’s smartphone exports to China increased by 64% year over year, despite a 24% decline in Apple iPhone sales over the same period.
The most popular foreign smartphone brand in China, Apple, is being challenged by Huawei with its newest phones.
Pura 70 Series Specifications and Price
According to Huawei’s official website, there are four devices in the Pura 70 series: the Pura 70, Pura 70 Pro, Pura 70 Pro Plus, and Pura 70 Ultra.
In China, the price of Apple’s iPhone 15 is 5,999 yuan, while the price of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is 9,999 yuan. Huawei is directly competing with Apple in the same pricing range.
Huawei has included a slew of high-end smartphone features in its smartphones. The Ultra model of the device boasts a 6.8-inch screen, while the phone’s back is covered in a textured material. With a triple-lens system and capabilities like long-range zoom and the capacity to take pictures of moving objects, the latest phone models are fitted with cameras.
The Huawei-exclusive HarmonyOS 4.2 operating system, which was first made available in 2019 after being shut off from Google’s Android due to U.S. sanctions, is also available for use with the Pura 70 series.
Blacklising of Chinese Semiconductors
Meanwhile, last month, the Biden administration considered blacklisting a number of Chinese semiconductor firms linked to Huawei Technologies Co, according to a Bloomberg report.
The companies that could be blacklisted include chipmakers Qingdao Si’En, SwaySure, and Shenzhen Pensun Technology Co, the report said, adding that U.S. officials are also weighing sanctions on memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc.
However, since Huawei semiconductor breakthrough last year, Huawei has not disclosed the device’s central processing unit (CPU). According to CNBC, which was unable to independently confirm, a number of bloggers on Chinese social media platforms claim the phone is powered by a Kirin 9010 chipset, which was created by Huawei.
Compared to the Kirin 9000s, which were supposedly utilised in the Mate 60 last year, this would be an improvement.
