Huawei has indefinitely postponed the imminent launch of a new Windows laptop, consumer division Richard Yu has confirmed to CNBC. The product was set for a reveal at the ongoing CES Asia show in Shanghai this week, but trade sanctions from the US government are restricting Huawei’s ability to use American products like Microsoft software and Intel processors. The news was first reported by The Information.
Yu described the situation as “unfortunate” to CNBC, saying that the laptop would have been unveiled this week without a release date, but Huawei’s placement on the US Entity List has stopped the company from announcing the product altogether. Whether the laptop ever sees the light of day will depend on how long Huawei remains on the blacklist.
According to Huawei employees, the affected laptop was set to be revealed during CES Asia, currently ongoing in Shanghai. They also said that company has not set any new date for the launch of the laptop.
Not much is known about the laptop in question though. The MateBook 13 was one of the last laptops announced by the company, which debuted in CES earlier in January. From that, one could probably make a safe guess that it isn’t a refresh of the MateBook line.
In a similar vein, it appears that Huawei has also halted production and development of if its own laptops, according to Digitimes. This is in addition to the reduction of phone orders the company made with Taiwanese tech manufacturer Foxconn. Microsoft has remained silent on the matter other than removing Huawei’s laptops from sale in its online store.
Huawei has suggested that its stockpiling of components and proprietary technology will mitigate the effect of US sanctions, and the laptop division only represents a tiny percent of the company’s business. But the computers represent Huawei’s biggest consumer success in the US to date, and the retreat could be the most visible sign yet of the damage the trade war is inflicting on the company.
