The move has dealt a strike to Huawei’s smartphone sales in Europe, its key overseas market, but the company saw its third-quarter revenue expanding 27% thanks to solid sales in China and higher shipments of models launched before the May ban. The new smartphone, a competitor to Samsung Electronics Co’s (005930.KS) Galaxy Fold which went on sale last month, will be released officially on Nov. 15 in China at prices starting from 16,999 yuan ($2,403), a Huawei spokesman said.

 

Its global launch plan remains under review, Huawei said.

 

Washington claims that Huawei, also the world’s biggest telecoms gear maker, is a national security risk as its equipment may possibly be used by Beijing to spy - something the Shenzhen-based company has frequently declined. Nevertheless, the ban has implied that Huawei has not been able to license the latest version of Android from Google, the Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit, which has affected its latest Mate 30 smartphone range that it launched in September.

 

He Gang, head of Huawei’s mobile phone division, noted on Wednesday the company has already sold around 200 million phones so far in 2019, striking that milestone more than two months sooner than it did in 2018. Huawei’s 5G Mate X was primarily set for a June launch but the company postponed it, saying that it was running certification tests with numerous carriers.

 

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