Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday said that its first-quarter revenue jumped 39 percent to 179.7 billion yuan (US$26.81 billion) in the Chinese technology firm’s first-ever quarterly results.
The Shenzhen-based firm, the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker, also said its net profit margin was about 8 percent for the quarter, which was slightly higher than the same period last year.
Huawei did not disclose its actual net profit.
The limited results announcement comes at a time when Washington has intensified a campaign against unlisted Huawei, alleging that its equipment could be used for espionage and urging US allies to ban it from building next-generation 5G mobile networks.
The Chinese firm, which is also the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker, last week said the number of contracts it has won to provide 5G telecoms gear increased further, despite the US campaign.
By the end of last month, Huawei said it had signed 40 commercial 5G contracts with carriers, shipped more than 70,000 5G base stations to markets around the world and expects to have shipped 100,000 by next month.
Huawei’s network business last year saw its first drop in revenue in two years, but Guo Ping (郭平), rotating chairman of the company, has said he expects all three business groups — consumer, carrier and enterprise — to post double-digit growth this year.
Huawei also said that it had shipped 59 million smartphones in the first quarter. It did not disclose comparable figures from last year, but according to market research firm Strategy Analytics, Huawei shipped 39.3 million smartphones in the first quarter of last year.
Separately, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has postponed media events for its Galaxy Fold planned for this week in Hong Kong and Shanghai, a company official said, days after reviewers of the foldable handset reported defective samples.
The official did not elaborate on reasons or rescheduling.
Instead of plaudits ahead of the phone’s launch on April 26 in the US, the South Korean conglomerate has been blighted by technology journalists reporting breaks, bulges and blinking screens after using their samples for as little as a day.
The Samsung official said that the firm was investigating the damage reports as previously announced and declined to comment on whether there would be any change to the US release date.
The firm plans to begin South Korean and European sales next month, and Chinese sales from an undisclosed date.
Samsung has hailed the folding design as the future in a field that has seen few surprises since Apple Inc’s iPhone in 2007. Huawei has also announced a folding handset, the Mate X.
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