David Wang, the UAE Country Manager at Huawei Consumer Business Group, speaks to Review Central about the company’s achievements in 2017 and their outlook for 2018
David Wang, the UAE Country Manager at Huawei Consumer Business Group.
Which technology trends worked in the year 2017?
AI has kept hold of people’s imaginations and remains a key trend in smartphone technology. AI has become a platform to create differentiated value for smartphones. As we enter the age of intelligence, AI is no longer a virtual concept but something that intertwines with our daily life. AI can enhance user experience, provide valuable services and improve product performance.
Innovation is crucial in a successful AI strategy, something Huawei recognised from the offset. 2017 saw us herald a new era in smartphone innovation and reveal our vision for the future of artificial intelligence with the launch of the Kirin 970. By combining the power of the cloud with the speed and responsiveness of native AI processing, Huawei is bringing AI experiences to life and changing the way we interact with our devices.
In the global chip industry, with the Kirin chipset, Huawei has become a benchmark for high-end chips across the board. Our phones are now moving past being simply smart phones, to become intelligent mobile phones. Our Mate 10 series with AI chip is revolutionizing smartphone experience.
The Huawei Mate 10 Series – the Huawei Mate 10, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, and the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 – go beyond smart, using the AI application ecosystem to make the smartphone so intelligent with personalised AI applications that it completely changes smart applications and delivers a faster, stronger and seamless smartphone experience to users.
The Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro.
What were your company’s major achievements in 2017?
The Huawei Mate 10 Series introduced the world’s most powerful AI flagship smartphones, launching a new era of intelligent smartphones. We view this as an important turning point and a shift from the smart to the intelligence revolution. Heralding a new decade of smartphone development, the new Huawei Mate 10, Huawei Mate 10 Pro and Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 devices are set to deliver the ultimate intelligent experience for regional consumers by providing more comprehensive mobile intelligence through Mobile AI.
2017 also saw us launch Huawei’s first ‘Experience Store’ in the UAE at The Dubai Mall. The store offers consumers a full retail experience, which includes access to Huawei’s latest products and services under one roof. All new products will now be available for pre-booking and sale at the same time as its global launch.
The opening of the first brand store in the Middle East and Africa represents Huawei’s commitment to the region and the next step in the company’s mission to deliver breakthrough technologies, provide exceptional customer service and set new industry standards in innovation. Huawei’s goal is to become an end-to-end solutions provider, offering consumers more convenient and smarter ways to connect the various aspects of their lives.
Overall, the Middle East is one of the most crucial markets for Huawei and over the last couple of years, we have grown from strength to strength, focusing on improving the quality of our products, services and market performance. In addition, we are constantly developing meaningful ways to connect with the region’s tech-savvy consumers and our esteemed brand rankings year on year are a testimony to the brand evolution in the regional market.
According to the 2017 H1 GFK report, Huawei is now number 2 in the Middle East & Africa region in terms of sales volume with 13.8% market share.
The Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10.
Which products and solutions were launched / updated by your company this year?
Our recently launched Huawei Mate 10 Series goes beyond smart, using the AI application ecosystem to make the smartphone so intelligent with personalised AI applications that it completely changes smart applications and delivers a faster, stronger and seamless smartphone experience to users.
Built with the world’s first AI processor for smartphones, the Huawei Mate 10 Series allows us to break through boundaries and usher in an era of smartphones that transform human-to-machine interaction and further expand their capabilities. With boosted performance, speed, power, and infinitely faster connectivity and download speeds, this premium device series delivers the ultimate user experience, and heralds a new decade of smartphone development.
The Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 is our most powerful and expensive smartphone to date. The designer smartphone model epitomizes the elite lifestyle with a premium look and feel. The limited edition model is driven by intelligent performance – intelligent speed, intelligent power and an intelligent camera. The Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 is built for luxury aficionados, purveyors of style and the crème de la crème of society, who want to experience the joy of unmatched speed, unsurpassed performance and unrivaled design.
We also introduced the latest Huawei Matebook X, a 13″ notebook smaller than A4 paper. Light, powerful, beautiful and portable, Matebook X with up to the 7th Generation Intel Core i7 processor effortlessly delivers performance for both work and entertainment.
The Huawei Matebook X.
What do you expect from 2018? What sort of technologies, products and solutions will you focus on, in 2018?
As we look back on 2017 and look forward to 2018, we predict that the rate of innovation will accelerate rapidly in this pursuit of happiness, especially in the Middle East. Over the past year, we’ve seen the region take three tremendous leaps towards building a happier future with technology in the field of autonomous vehicles, robots and artificial intelligence (AI).
As a multinational tech company, we are also especially excited that we share the same vision as the region – to continuously innovate. Huawei is already the fastest growing smartphone brand in the region, and we will continue to invest in research and development efforts to create devices that understand our customers need; that are more human, transparent and rapid.
2018 will see Huawei relentlessly dedicated to creating innovative devices that help make the lives of their consumers easier, and therefore ultimately happier.
Do you see a big growth in the gaming market?
We understand that consumers today are increasingly using their smartphones for gaming. Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro are intelligent machines offers unparalleled performance and supports all the current graphics standards. The navigational button for easier one-handed control and the option to open incoming notifications in split screen when you’re viewing a full-screen video or playing a game offers seamless experience. With Huawei Mate 10 Series there are no limitations to gaming.
Kirin 970 introduces the new generation Mali G72 12-core GPU, the first-to-market with this new technology. Its graphics processing performance is 20 percent better than the previous generation (Kirin 960 with the Mali G71 MP8), with a 50 percent improvement in energy efficiency. Users can expect much longer battery life and a smoother 3D gaming experience.
