Huawei recently held a Media Tour in China that included tech bloggers like me from the Philippines.
Along with the delegation from Singapore, we were toured inside the company’s massive Shenzhen campus and Research and Development center in Beijing. Here are the things I learned about Huawei in the 5-day adventure.
1. Huawei is HUGE
Map of the Huawei Campus Shenzhen, China.
The Huawei campus in Shenzhen spans around 2 square kilometers and includes thirteen blocks with a man-made lake populated by black swans.
They started with carrier infrastructure products and now has business in enterprise and consumer products. There’s no question about its number one standing in China and the company has recently overtook Apple to be the second biggest smartphone vendor globally.
2. Huawei Likes to Stay Humble
Huawei started in this old building in Shenzhen.
Despite being so successful, Huawei likes to stay humble. This can be attributed to its modest beginnings. It was founded with a capital of merely $5,642. In 2016, the company is already valued at $75.1 Billion!
Instead of using money for marketing with celebrities and ubiquitous ads, Huawei focuses on creating high quality products. This empowers their customers to become brand ambassadors by attesting how good Huawei smartphones are.
3. Huawei is owned by its Employees
Meet your favorite tech media from Singapore and the Philippines!
As a Chinese company, many will think that Huawei is owned by a rich Chinese businessman or by a rich family. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Ren Zhenfei, the founder of Huawei, owns less than 2% of the company. The remaining 98% is owned by its employees. This is one of the reasons why Huawei employees care so much about the company which results in its overall success.
4. Huawei Loves Research and Development
A Huawei P10 sits inside an anechoic chamber.
Around 45% or 80,000 of Huawei’s employees are engaged in Research and Development (R&D) in 15 R&D centers worldwide. The company spends around 15% of its revenue in R&D which sums up to $45 Billion in the last decade!
As a result, the company became the first brand to popularize dual cameras on smartphones. They’ve also developed the EMUI software that improves Android without slowing it down as well as a fast charging technology that doesn’t heat up the device. More technologies in Huawei smartphones are products of its huge investments in R&D.
Related: This is How Huawei Tests the Durability of Smartphones
5. Filipinos are Discovering Huawei Smartphones
The Huawei GR3 2017 smartphone.
During the tour, I had the chance to talk with the country manager of Huawei in the Philippines. She confirmed my thoughts that the Huawei GR3 2017 and Huawei GR5 2017 have been very successful in the country.
This happened without the company releasing a lot of ads like other smartphone brands. Filipinos looked for affordable but high quality smartphones and they found Huawei.
