Huawei is preparing to face a 'difficult' year ahead as the US trade ban continues

2019 marked the beginning of an uphill battle for Huawei as the U.S. trade ban took effect. The Chinese consumer electronics company is no longer allowed to purchase tech from firms in the United States without a license from the government. However, an announcement made by a company executive reveals a remarkable growth in sales this year. Nevertheless, it is bracing for the full impact of the restrictions which will make 2020 "difficult" for its business.

The consumer electronics group is looking at around $122 billion of sales revenue for 2019, which is approximately an 18 per cent jump from 2018. Moreover, among the products it sold, 240 million of those are from smartphones which marks a 17 per cent increase from last year.

The information was sourced from company chairman Eric Xu who likewise noted that "these numbers are our initial projections, yet business remains solid and we stand strong in the face of adversity."

Huawei acknowledges that being on the trade blacklist has affected global sales of its products. The most notable impact is on its smartphone sector, which relies on the Android operating system for majority of the devices it sells. While smartphones and tablets sold by the company are still using Google's operating system due to it being a free and open platform, it cannot have access to Google Mobile Services.

Since the western market is dependent on these functionalities, it will be difficult to access markets outside of China. As such Huawei is looking into its 5G equipment to help it along its 2020 journey. Since it is not allowed to do business in the US, the Chinese tech firm has plans to develop 5G networks in the UK and Germany. "We won't grow as rapidly as we did in the first half of 2019, growth that continued throughout the year owing to sheer momentum in the market," detailed Xu, as reported by CNN.

It appears Huawei is also issuing a message to its employees to double their efforts in 2020. The chairman urges its workers to "hone our ability to fight and cut red tape." He plans to remove "mediocre managers" and reward high performers at the same time. To be specific, the company will remove management personnel that is in the bottom 10 per cent every year, moving forward.