The bans, which began in 2019, nearly wiped out Huawei’s smartphone business.
Now Huawei is trying to come back. According to Counterpoint Research, the company’s smartphone shipments in China rose 64% year-over-year in the first six weeks of 2024, while Apple’s iPhone sales fell 24% during that period.
Huawei’s latest phones represent the latest challenge to Apple, China’s dominant overseas smartphone brand.
According to Huawei’s official website, the Pura 70 series consists of four devices – Pura 70, Pura 70 Pro, Pura 70 Pro Plus and Pura 70 Ultra.
Here are the starting prices in China for each:
- Bora 70: 5499 Yuan
- Bora 70 Pro: 6.499 Yuan
- Bora 70 Pro Plus: 7,999 yuan
- Pura 70 Ultra: 9.999 Yuan
Apple’s iPhone 15 price in China starts at 5,999 yuan, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at 9,999 yuan. Huawei is thus directly challenging Apple in the same price segment.
Huawei has equipped the devices with first-class smartphone functions. The back of the phone has a textured cover, while the Ultra version of the device has a 6.8-inch screen. All new phone offerings come with three-lens cameras, including long-range zoom and the ability to take photos of fast-moving objects.
The Pura 70 series also runs HarmonyOS 4.2, Huawei’s proprietary operating system that was first released in 2019 after Google’s Android operating system was blocked by the US ban.
The company hasn’t disclosed the central processor chip inside Huawei devices since last year causing a stir with a semiconductor hack. Several bloggers on Chinese social media have noted that the phone uses a Huawei-developed Kirin 9010 processor, which CNBC could not independently verify.
It is said to be an upgrade of the Kirin 9000s processor that was used in last year’s Mate 60.
When contacted by CNBC, Huawei could not immediately be reached for comment.
