Reeling from the blows of the US government sanctions on its smartphone and telecom equipment business, Chinese smartphone maker may be pivoting to electric cars this year.
According to a report by Reuters, the company is already designing the cars, in talks, sourcing components, and may unveil not one but multiple EVs under its own brand before 2021 comes to an end. [1]
Two years of US sanctions have taken a toll on the smartphone business of Huawei. A few months ago, it sold its Honor budget sub-brand. There have been whispers that it may sell its flagship brand too, but the company has denied any plans to do that.
Huawei exploring electric cars sounds like a sound business idea, though the company has also denied the rumour.
Reuters says that four different inside sources, all anonymous, have confirmed that Huawei electric cars are in the works and will likely be unveiled this year.
Any electric cars made by Huawei would not support Android Auto though, same way their smartphones have no access to Google Mobile Services and apps, thanks to the US government ban.
The good thing is that cars are not dependent on Google the way Android smartphones are, so it is no big deal. In-car navigation and other connectivity can be provided by any of the available 3rd party providers.
References
- Don’t miss our mobile phone reviews.
- Follow our news on Google News.
- Join our WhatsApp Group, to be notified of the most important articles and deals,
- Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Apple is of course working on having its own Electric Vehicle.
Google has also been in the automobile arena for years..
Samsung and Hyundai are also into talks in possible collaboration on EV production.
There has been talk that Xiaomi is also working on its own electric vehicles.. just like TSMC is also reported to be collaborating with some other companies to manufacture critical EV electronic components.
Geely has said that it may leverage its partnership with Foxconn to help build cars for EV startup Faraday Future.
There was a time when many smartphone companies were diving into television sets production, in a rush, but that is no longer news..
Clearly, automobiles are the happening arena for technology companies now, and they may just take over from the traditional automobile companies since these new_age automobiles are basically computers.. with wheels attached..
Let’s hope even more technology companies would jump into electric vehicle manufacture…fiercer competition.. the more .. the merrier.. the better… for the consumers.