Trump approaches over successful global push of Chinese smartphone players

Barcelona – US President Donald Trump’s constant clashes with China over technology and trade approaches severe smartphone sellers, who have grown globally in recent years, creating uncertainty if some of these companies may be targeted by Huawei.

At the World Congress of Mobile (MWC) in Barcelona, ​​Chinese electronics players from Xiaomi to honor and OPPO were in force, showing their latest equipment. Xiaomi even had his latest electric vehicle – SU7 Ultra – on the show as it seemed to create a buzz.

Xiaomi also launched a high -level smartphone while Honor announced a $ 10 billion investment in him. Oppo sought his features of intimacy of him and other players less well known as Tecno, owned by transition, discovered products like his glasses.

Huawei was also present, and showed Mate XT, a Trifold smartphone that has begun in international markets while setting a very careful return to the global sphere.

To some extent, Huawei serves as a warning tale for other Chinese players. Shenzhen based firm was once the largest seller of smartphones in the world until American sanctions printed her mobile business.

Like Huawei is seeking to immerse again in international sales of smartphones and other Chinese players are growing fast, Trump has returned to the White House, which is likely to overshadow the presence of these companies at MWC, according to Ben Wood, the chief analyst at CCS Insight.

“I think unfortunately for Huawei, just as they have begun to return to their feet, Trump’s reappearance and his general strategy about” First America “and pressuring the Chinese, not only affects Huawei, but affects all Chinese manufacturers who will be in MWC,” Wood CNBC said.

“I think it will be a lot of elephant in the MWC room about a large amount of investment and delightful expenses from Chinese manufacturers, with the shadow of what will happen in the coming months hanging on them.”

Xiaomi, Oppo and Honor were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Chinese players have been a feature of MWC for several years after they have expanded their trail globally. Now eight of the top 10 smartphone players are based in China, according to Canalys data. Xiaomi, for example, is the third largest in the world.

Xiaomi has increased its presence in Europe while others, as a transmission, have focused on developing markets. With that success comes the potential for further consideration, Wood said.

“The risk to these manufacturers is if they put their heads far away from the parapet, they will start to take consideration from the US administration,” Wood said.

“So I think they have to violate a great line in Barcelona and make sure they don’t make a lot of noise because the last thing they want is to be a poster baby for Chinese technology and become the latest focal points for Trump and his advisers.”

So far, Trump has focused on raising tariffs for Chinese imports. But there have been few actions in front of technology restriction. Under previous President Joe Biden, Washington brought some rounds of restrictions that seemed to terminate China’s access to advanced technology in areas such as semiconductors.

Other analysts agree that there is a risk of increased control, but they indicate for some major reasons why other Chinese manufacturers may not be limited as Huawei was.

Francisco Jeronimo, vice president for data and analytics in the International Data Corporation (IDC), said Chinese brands are concentrating their efforts in Europe than on the US, which can help deviate control from Washington.

“They [Chinese players] No doubt I don’t have a chance to sell at the US, but if they continue to target Europe as they are, I don’t think it’s a danger and I don’t think it will come to a point where the US administration will tell any place in Europe that they should stop the sale of Xiaomi or any other brands, “Jeronimo told CNBC.

“I don’t think there is a massive risk because at the end of the day as they are not targeting American consumers.”

Another reason why the US may not target Chinese firms as much as Huawei is because it can damage American technology firms, according to Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research.

“Hard hard to say how much Trump will strengthen Chinese players’ screws because they are dependent on Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm,” Shah CNBC told.

Chinese players selling outside China run Google’s Android operating system on their smartphones. Meanwhile, many of them rely on chips from US firm Qualcomm. Many Chinese Smartphone manufacturers also sell laptops and tablets that can work Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Limiting the access of Chinese enterprises to this technology can harm US firms, Shah argues.

“Qualcomm will be lost, Microsoft will lose and eventually Google will also be lost,” Shah said.