Huawei revenue continues to grow and its smartphone sales are recovering, despite it being blacklisted by the US government and incurring local promotional difficulties in Singapore.

The tech company reported revenues up 23.2% in the first half of the year, compared to 15% in the same period in 2018. It also said it had sold 118 million smartphones around the world during that time and was now at 80% of the figure it reached before the Trump administration banned US companies from selling technology to it.

That ban had led to a “reduction in consumer trust”, chairman Liang Hua acknowledged, but analysts said strong domestic smartphone sales and new 5G carrier contracts had helped offset the impact. Huawei will also start selling 5G handsets in China from next month, according to TechCrunch.

Meanwhile, Huawei has had to apologise to unhappy Singapore consumers after a promotion targeting the over-50s as part of a commemoration of Singapore’s 54th National Day went wrong.

Long queues had formed in front of Huawei stores on July 26 to buy its Y6 Pro phone at a 73% discount (reducing the price to $54), but anger mounted when stocks sold out quickly and stores closed. The police had to be called in to manage the chaos, exacerbating the situation.

Saying sorry hasn’t pacified everyone, however, with the local consumer watchdog demanding a public reprimand of the company and contacting the regulatory authority to accuse Huawei of breaching the Consumer Protection Fair Trading Act (which states it is “unfair practice” for companies to “omit to do or say anything” in a consumer transaction, resulting in consumers being “deceived or misled”).

At the same time, the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) is investigating 10 complaints about the same Huawei saga to determine if it constitutes bait advertising.

Sourced from Financial Times, Reuters, TechCrunch, Straits Times, Facebook; additional content by WARC staff