Huawei reaches 900 million active users despite US sanctions

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has reached 900 million active consumer devices with the company's HarmonyOS operating system.

The company announced that its premium devices sales have surged by 72% during the first five months of 2024.

"No one can extinguish the starlight in the sky. Today, the future of HarmonyOS is set," Huawei's consumer business chairman Richard Yu said during a developer conference in Dongguan, China.

"Let's enjoy the brilliant galaxy that belongs to us."

One of the notable reasons for the surge in sales was the launch of Mate 60 Pro smartphones in September.

Huawei reported a profit of 19.6 billion yuan ($2.7 million) in the first quarter, up 564% from the previous year. Sales during the same period rose by 37% to 178.8 billion yuan.

During the meeting, Yu mentioned that the company is preparing for the launch of the Mate 70, the successor of the Mate 60 Pro, later this year.

US sanctions have denied Huawei access to modern US technologies for several years. As a result, Huawei smartphones hardly play a role outside of China anymore - despite the company overtaking Samsung as top smartphone player in 2020.