Huawei To Unveil First Smartwatch At Mobile World Congress

Huawei has confirmed it will be launching a smartwatch at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The Chinese manufacturer will unveil the device in two weeks at the world’s biggest mobile trade show , signalling a move into the wearable technology market as it seeks to challenge Samsung and Apple on the world stage.

Huawei also plans to show a new smartphone and two new tablets at Mobile World Congress, which begins on 24 February, ahead of a standalone company launch event later this year. This means that the phone on show won’t be a successor to its flagship Ascend P6.

The company is yet to respond to a request for further information regarding what products will be showcased in Barcelona.

Coming soon

Huawei has steadily grown over the last few years to become a major player in the mobile device industry. Recent research shows that it has now become the world’s third-biggest smartphone manufacturer, with a 5.1 percent global share of the market, behind Samsung (35.2 percent) and Apple (13.4 percent).

This rise is mainly due to a huge growth in demand from a rapidly developing Chinese market, which contributed around 50 percent of the company’s growth.  With smartphones now making up 23 percent of its revenue, up from 22 percent in 2013, Huawei has also announced that it plans to increase shipments of these devices to 80 million next year, up from 52m in 2012.

The news comes among suggestions that Apple is gearing up to launch its own smartwatch at some point this year. Although it is yet to reveal any actual details about the device, there are plenty of rumours surrounding the development of an ‘iWatch’, which will reportedly be a much more health-focused offering than the smartwatches already on the market.

Apple has also reportedly signed a deal with LG to supply the screens for the iWatch, with two million 1.52in display units set to be produced in a run lasting from July to September. These screens are claimed to feature plastic-OLED technology and according to reports may also include a solar charging layer which will power the device.

The smartwatch market has exploded over the last year as the popularity of the devices grows amongst the general public, with Samsung currently leading the way in terms of real sales. Last November the company announced that it had sold 800,000 of its Galaxy Gear units in the first two months since launch, marking the device out as the clear leader in the smartwatch market so far.

What do you know about IT in China? Take our quiz!