Business and Technology

Huawei Mate 40 Pro to launch in South Africa

Huawei has confirmed that its Mate 40 Pro premium smartphone will be coming to South Africa in April this year.

Speaking during the company’s Better Together 2021 live event, Huawei South Africa CTO Akhram Mohamed confirmed that the recently-released smartphone will come to South Africa.

“The Huawei Mate 40 Pro will be available in April across all operator channels,” Mohamed said.

Unlike the previous-generation Mate 30 Pro, the Huawei Mate 40 Pro runs Android with Huawei Mobile Services instead of Google Mobile Services, which means applications can be sourced from Huawei AppGallery instead of the Google Play Store.

It offers a number of high-end features, including improved display technology and a next-generation Space Ring camera system with a 50MP primary lens.

There is currently no launch date or South African pricing available for this new smartphone, but it is priced at €1,199 internationally.

Read more about the Huawei Mate 40 Pro here.

Huawei’s performance in South Africa
Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) South Africa president Jun Sun also spoke to the performance of Huawei locally, stating that its expansion into more product categories has paid off.

He said Huawei HMS-powered smartphones achieved a 380% quarter-on-quarter increase in sales in Q3 2020, with a further 120% increase in Q4 2020.

“Our smartphone market share is still amongst the top two in South Africa,” he said.

He also said that Huawei became the number 1 PC brand in its respective channels shortly after the launch of the MateBook series.

“This gave us the confidence to bring more PCs to the South African market,” Sun said.

Huawei is now also the number one smartwatch brand in South Africa, he said, with the company seeing significant demand for laptops and wearables during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Strategy for 2021
Huawei said it is focusing on its “Seamless AI Life” strategy for 2021, focussing on the integration between products and improved accessibility within its device ecosystem.

This is based on everything from Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) to the company’s product lineup and service offering, said Mohamed.

“When we launched HMS, it became a strong foundation because it provides consumers with a basis to operate from,” Mohamed said.

“On top of that, there are three pillars – the product ecosystem, the software ecosystem, and the services ecosystem.”

“We have a clear vision long-term; we don’t just want to say this is the new product coming out, we want to say this is the intention and thinking behind that product,” he said.

Mohamed said this strategy is based on developing products that address consumer pain points and needs with products, from wearables to laptops and smartphones.

“We hope to release many more products in the future within these categories. South Africa remains a top market for Huawei and remains an important market for our flagship launches.

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Source: mybroadband