Huawei's selling of P and Mate brands signals exit from high-end smartphone-manufacturing

Huawei Technologies is in talks to sell its premium smartphone brands P and Mate to a group led by Shanghai government-backed investment firms, which could signal the start of the company's exit from high-end smartphone-manufacturing.

According to sources, the Shanghai government-backed investment firms may form a consortium with Huawei’s dealers to take over the P and Mate brands.

They added the Huawei will likely send the management team for premium smartphone brands team to work for the new entity.

Shipments of Mate and P Series phones were worth $39.7 billion between Q3 2019 and Q3 2020, according to consultancy IDC.

Huawei, the biggest telecoms equipment vendor in the world and No.2 smartphone manufacturer, began exploring the possibility of selling the brands last September.

However, Huawei has not made a final decision on the sale as the company is still trying to manufacture its in-house designed high-end Kirin chips which power its smartphones.

A Huawei spokesman called the news of the possible sale of our flagship smartphone brands unsubstantiated rumors.

Huawei’s plan to sell its premium smartphone lines suggests it does not believe that the Biden administration will have a change of heart towards the supply chain restrictions placed on them since May 2019.

last November, Huawei announced the sale of its budget phone brand Honor to a consortium of 30 dealers led by a Shenzhen government-backed company. The all-cash sale fetched over $15.5 billion.