Poll of the week: No 5G and without Google - Is Huawei still relevant?

Last week, Huawei presented its new flagships - and we wanted to know what you think about them. Therefore, we wanted to tap the relevance of the former smartphone giant in our survey. With a total of four questions, we can see that you were relatively united with your assessment this time. So, let's dive straight into the numbers.

Very few people want to buy a new Huawei smartphone

If we take a look at the NextPit community, we can uniformly determine that at least 50 percent across the board rule out that the next smartphone will bear the Huawei logo. Likewise, a relatively uniform 8-10% say that they would buy an older model with Google services if they bought a Huawei.

At least 38% of the French community can imagine buying the Huawei P50 Pro. The enthusiasm for the foldables is highest in Germany with 19 percent. Here you can see the results again clearly in the chart:

Is Huawei still relevant? Yep!

When it comes to the question of the Chinese company's relevance, the Huawei world looks at least a little bit less gloomy. In our International community, there is an exact tie between those who still believe in Huawei's relevance and the skeptics.

NextPit.fr is even slightly optimistic with 48 percent in favor. In Germany, on the other hand, Huawei is slammed with 57 percent. In this country, only one in four of you still concedes Huawei a certain relevance on the cell phone market.

Among the critical voices, we wanted to know more precisely: What is the reason that Huawei has less impact on the smartphone market here. Again, there was a very consistent picture: It is the lack of Google services! In France (61 percent), Germany (78 percent), as well as in the NextPt.COM communities (75 percent), this was your number one answer.

However, there is also a great deal of skepticism (32 percent) about Chinese manufacturers in general, especially among our English-speaking readers.

I have to admit that I also voted for the lack of Google services. I really tried to get comfortable with the P40 Pro, but it's just too cumbersome and sketchy for me. Maybe I didn't try hard enough? Yes, looking at the comment from Hosh Benben who commented here:

After more than 18 months with a Google-free Huawei phone, I keep asking myself: what's all the fuss about? The phone works perfectly. Yes, I had to change some of the apps I used on my old Samsung, but one way or another I was able to try some great apps. For example, I can't imagine going back to using the regular YouTube app after learning about Vanced. Petal Maps is comparable to (in some ways even better than) Google Maps.

So not only does he think it's possible to compensate for missing services - he's actually found better services. You are also welcome to comment on this again.

No Huawei purchases far and wide

Finally, we wanted to know whether you still notice people in your own environment who choose Huawei phones. Again, the picture is quite uniform: Most of you have to answer this question in the negative. You can see the three bold bars in the chart:

The bottom line is that you think Huawei has lost a lot of ground as a cell phone manufacturer. And with a large majority, you can't or don't want to do without Google services - and you also hardly observe Huawei smartphones being bought in your bubble anymore.

Thus, the evaluation of this week's survey is a very sobering one for Huawei, but probably not an astounding one either. It hurts my soul, because I really liked using the smartphones, and the new models also look great. But according to your answers, the company is currently in a very difficult position. We thank you for your participation and will provide you with a brand-new survey on Friday.

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Original article:

Huawei is still trying to secure a spot on the smartphone market in 2022. But will this legendary cookie even taste good without Google and 5G? In our poll of the week, we want to know what you think of the former superstar on the smartphone market.

It was hard to miss that Huawei unveiled new smartphones last week. Of course, we at NextPit published an article about the P50 Pro and P50 Pocket, and my colleague Antoine Engels has already used the Pro model for a test. Besides websites with a technology focus, mainstream media like the US news channel CNBC have also reported about it.

Huawei's new smartphones look fantastic, but they fall behind the competition when you take a closer look: Both the Pro model and the P50 Pocket come with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888, but Huawei had to replace the integrated 5G modem with an LTE modem. In addition, support for the Google Play Store is still missing and Harmony OS is not rolled out outside of China.

So, is the world reporting on Huawei because it is exciting to watch a former tech giant die, or are the new smartphones actually relevant as daily drivers. Not for resourceful tech journalists like me, but for you - the end users!

Question 1: P50 Pocket or Pro - which model would you buy?

Let's start with the easiest question. We determine the market with our purchasing power and since not all of you may have between 1,199 and 1,599 dollars to spare for a new device, and of course, Huawei's devices are only available on a limited number or markets, we'll simply simulate the tech market cash register in this survey:

While the first question is quite personal, I would like to appeal to your professionalism once again. Many NextPit readers have been watching the smartphone market for quite a few years. So how do you see Huawei's relevance apart from your personal preferences and financial plans?

Question 2: Is Huawei still relevant to the smartphone market?

Because when we ask about the relevance of a company, we have to add a few more variables. So it's not about whether you like the current lineup, but rather whether Huawei still has a raison d'être in the markets in Europe and the Americas despite its major weaknesses. Even though Huawei is also weakening in China, let's take the market there out of the equation for once.

If you answered "No" in the question above, I ask you to click on the next poll again. Because I find your reasons here much more exciting than the yes-no question. Is it a distrust of a company that (allegedly) works with the Chinese Communist Party, or do you find the obvious rebrands with "ex" daughter brand Honor silly?

In our weekly editorial meeting, we had another idea that we want to take up with a final question. Because sometimes we have the impression of living in a bubble. And it might just burst if we poke it with obvious surveys!

Question 3: Do you know anyone who recently bought a Huawei phone?

Besides the field test of going undercover and letting ourselves be advised in tech stores about Huawei phones, we would like to know if our doubts are purely professional. Of course, we have to criticize the fact that Google services are missing on Huawei phones - but do cell phone newcomers even care about that? And might some people prefer a familiar brand name to 5G?

 

With this last question, this survey should also end. My little market research on the topic of Huawei will hopefully meet with lively interest on the various NextPit domains. Because I'm really curious to see if we nerds at the community are still up to date when it comes to Huawei.

Feel free to write me your opinion about Huawei and the new devices in the comments. As usual, we will take up exciting comments in the evaluation. Thank you for your participation!