Huawei may not be done releasing new laptops in the U.S., after all.
The Chinese tech giant is reportedly set to launch a new ARM-powered laptop next month, according to a report from the Global Times, a Chinese state media outlet. Citing an anonymous source "close to the matter," the outlet claims that a new laptop running Windows will launch in July, and that reports of Huawei shutting down production lines are "groundless."
This news should be viewed skeptically. The Global Times didn't mention that it was Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei's consumer division, who confirmed to CNBC that the planned launch of a new MateBook laptop was indefinitely put on hold. "We cannot supply the PC," he said. The Global Times also cited a single anonymous source and didn't confirm the information with Huawei.
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But despite Huawei's own claims, the Global Times and Forbes writer Jason Evangelho seem convinced that a new Huawei laptop is coming. "Huawei will release a new laptop product in July, with different models and configurations compared with previous series' such as the MateBook and HonorBook," the Global Times writes.
Not only should you take the report with a grain of salt, but even if it is true, don't get your hopes up for a new MateBook X laptop. Rather, this mysterious ARM-powered laptop would likely be a budget machine with much less power than what we're used to seeing from Huawei devices.
"The new laptop's system will run based on ARM architecture that supports Windows, which shows that the cut-off of some technologies has very little impact on Huawei," Fang Jing, an industry analyst at China Merchants Securities, told the Global Times.
Huawei has had a tough time of late. The company reportedly asked notebook supply chain partners to suspend deliveries after Intel, Qualcomm, Xilinx and Broadcom cut ties with the tech giant following U.S. sanctions. Huawei's recent falling out with the U.S. began when it was blacklisted by the U.S. Department of Commerce before President Trump signed an executive order barring government officials from using telecom equipment from any company it deemed a threat to national security (Though we're not convinced the U.S. has provided enough evidence to put Huawei in that group).
Huawei had already announced new MateBook laptops for 2019, but it now appears that we'll have to wait for the political feud to resolve before we can get our hands on them.
