Seeking to Escape Grasp of U.S. Sanctions, Huawei Launches In-Car Screens for Smart Vehicles

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. launched its first in-car smart screen device Monday, as the firm pivots into new products after its smartphone business was throttled by U.S. sanctions.

The smart screen debut comes nearly one month after the Shenzhen-based tech giant folded its smart car business into its consumer segment led by veteran CEO Richard Yu, and sold its budget smartphone unit Honor.

These two decisions were made in the face of increased pressure from the U.S. government’s clampdown on Huawei’s core telecoms equipment and smartphone business.

The tech company has played down any desire to manufacture smart cars, and is instead moving toward its goal of supplying technologies that help drive them, in particular those with a similar functionality to smartphones.

The company’s new smart screen is the first detachable device for cars that is compatible with Huawei’s self-developed HiCar platform. An equivalent to Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto, it enables the software on smartphones to be projected onto a car’s screen via a Bluetooth connection.

Equipped with a camera front and back, the 8.9-inch device is designed to work as a smart screen and dashboard camera recorder.

The HiCar system will be installed in over 5 million vehicles during their manufacture next year, Yu said at the product launch event in Guangdong on Monday. The company is partnering with over 20 automakers to build the HiCar system into over 100 models.

The system will be able to run over 30 applications, mostly for maps and navigation, music and movie playing, video chatting and news browsing.

“Everything in Huawei’s vision is related to smartphones, and a car is just a phone on four wheels,” the president of the software business of Huawei’s consumer unit, Wang Chenglu, told Caixin in September.

The in-car smart screen also can be purchased separately by car owners to install in their vehicles and is scheduled to be available from Jan. 8 for 1,699 yuan ($260) each, the company said.

Huawei also showcased its midsize TV smart screen Series S on Monday, a successor to the more expensive luxury Series X and V screens. The model S will hit the market Saturday in three sizes: 55-inch, priced at 3,299 yuan, 65-inch (4,999 yuan) and 75-inch (6,999 yuan).

In comparison, the 65-inch Series X TV screen is selling for 20,000 yuan on the official Huawei website, and the 55-inch Series V for 3,999 yuan. The relatively high prices have affected Huawei’s sales in a market where other domestic rivals like Xiaomi Corp. offer 55-inch screens for less than 3,000 yuan.

Huawei sold a total of 500,000 smart screens, including those made by its budget brand Honor, in the first half year, ranking eighth in the market.

As the U.S. government has throttled the company’s access to chip supplies that are essential to making smartphones, Huawei might no longer be able to meet the market demand for high-end handsets, a person close to Huawei told Caixin. Hence, the tech giant is looking to break into new consumer areas, like smart screens and internet-enabled cars.

All of Huawei’s smart screen products are using its proprietary Honghu chipsets developed by Hisilicon Technologies Co. Ltd., the company’s semiconductor manufacturing arm.

Contact reporter Anniek Bao (yunxinbao@caixin.com)

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