China’s Huawei’s Handset Business Making a Comeback, Executive Says

 People visit a Huawei booth during the World Semiconductor Congress in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu province on July 19, 2023. (AFP)
People visit a Huawei booth during the World Semiconductor Congress in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu province on July 19, 2023. (AFP)
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China’s Huawei’s Handset Business Making a Comeback, Executive Says

 People visit a Huawei booth during the World Semiconductor Congress in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu province on July 19, 2023. (AFP)
People visit a Huawei booth during the World Semiconductor Congress in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu province on July 19, 2023. (AFP)

Huawei Technologies' handset business is "on the road to a comeback" the head of the company's consumer business Richard Yu said in his keynote at the company's annual developer conference in the southern city of Dongguan on Friday.

Huawei's share of the domestic smartphone market share grew by 76.1% in the second quarter, and took second spot in the high-end sector, Yu said.

The company held 11.3% of the overall China market in the second quarter, behind five competitors led by Vivo and Apple, according to Counterpoint Research.

Counterpoint attributed Huawei's growth to the resumption of normal product launches after resolving shortages.

Several rounds of US restrictions on US-made technology limited Huawei to producing last-generation 4G handsets, causing its once sizeable handset market share to plummet both at home and abroad.

The US and European governments have labelled Huawei a security risk, a charge the company denies.

Yu said Huawei's in-house Harmony operating system has "overcome many challenges" in the last four years, noting there were now 2.2 million developers for the system.

Last month research firms told Reuters they expect Huawei to return to making 5G smartphones by the end of the year by procuring chips domestically, in spite of the US restrictions.

Huawei declined to comment.



Netflix Rises on Strong Subscriber Growth, Bets on Higher Customer Sign-ups

The Netflix logo is displayed at Netflix corporate offices on September 25, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
The Netflix logo is displayed at Netflix corporate offices on September 25, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Netflix Rises on Strong Subscriber Growth, Bets on Higher Customer Sign-ups

The Netflix logo is displayed at Netflix corporate offices on September 25, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
The Netflix logo is displayed at Netflix corporate offices on September 25, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images/AFP)

Netflix shares rose 5.2% in premarket trading on Friday, after the streaming giant topped Wall Street estimates for new subscriber additions by more than 1 million and projected higher customer sign-ups for the December quarter.

Netflix on Thursday said it picked up 5.1 million new streaming subscribers in the third quarter, with its ad-supported service accounting for more than 50% of sign-ups in countries where it was available.

“Netflix is the one thing people can’t live without and its latest results are testament to its lasting appeal,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, Reuters reported.

The streaming platform projected its customer additions for the December quarter - traditionally a strong period around the holidays - would outpace the September quarter. The second season of Korean drama "Squid Game" is scheduled for release in late December.

Shares of Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery rose marginally.

"Peers in the legacy media space are losing money hand over fist, meaning Netflix can push its advantage in content creation while others can’t stomach allocating more capital," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

Ads are also in the mix for 2025, and price hikes that have started in some markets have the potential to "squeeze more" from existing subscribers, he said.

At least eight analysts raised their price targets on the stock following results, bringing the median target to $750 from $706.38 according to LSEG data.

But while the customer additions outpaced forecasts, it was below the 8.76 million that Netflix picked up in the year-ago quarter.

The company has been trying to shift investor attention away from sign-ups to metrics including revenue growth and profit margins as the pace of subscriber growth mellows.

So far this year, Netflix's stock has risen about 41.2%, Disney has been up 6.9% while Warner Bros has shed about 31%.