Huawei is mostly perceived as a smartphone brand but it has a wide range of products in its consumer electronics portfolio, apart from the enterprise-grade hardware and telecom services.
During our interaction with Suhail Tariq, the marketing chief of Huawei India, at the launch of P20 Pro and P20 Lite in India, we asked whether the company’s impressive Matebook line-up as well as other devices will come to India any time soon.
Tariq revealed that with Huawei’s strong manufacturing position in India, the company is in a great place to not just make and sell premium smartphone, but also smart watches and laptops. According to Tariq, “India is at the center of all the development” and the company’s planning always takes into account the unique nature of the Indian market when it comes to growth expectations.
Considering the importance of the Indian market, Tarid said Huawei is confident to launch other globally-available products in India. He shared the possibility that alongside the P series – i.e. the P20 Pro and P20 Lite which were launched recently in India, we could expect to see Huawei’s Mate series also being launched in India. Tariq admitted that while in the past new devices have been late to the Indian market, it won’t be the case any more as is evident from the P20 Pro launch. He said, “Essentially what is available globally, it will be available for India. That is what our motto is.”
We’re especially intrigued by the idea of Huawei bringing its laptops to India. This is because recently its notebooks have been seriously impressive and innovative. They have launched to great reviews as is seen in the Matebook X Pro and the new Honor MagicBook. “Our portfolio is not just about (mobile) devices — we have smart watches, we’ll have laptops and, consumers should get a taste of everything that we put out,” Tariq said.
Where the Huawei MateBook X Pro exceeds the Honor MagicBook is in terms of the stunning display with a resolution of 3,000×2,000 compared to the Full HD resolution on the latter. These minor nuances – including the branding – create a difference of $1,000 in terms of pricing of both the laptops.
Now if we consider that in the future these laptops could be manufactured in India, which Tariq said the company counts on, Huawei would be able to price it competitively against other brands in the market. Even Xiaomi is entering the PC market in a big way, which is showing some signs of a resurgence, albeit short-term.
At the same time, Huawei has a wide range of enhancements and smartphone accessories including Bluetooth speakers, fitness bands and smartwatches, power banks, 3D camera, wired and wireless earphones. All of this makes it a direct rival to Xiaomi, which is also greatly increasing its product portfolio in India. The big question is whether Huawei can indeed outpace its Chinese rival Xiaomi at a time when the latter is going great guns in India.
