Strong smartphone sales and domestic growth propelled Huawei’s net profit up 28 per cent year-on-year to CNY47.5 billion ($7.3 billion) in 2017, marking a stark turnaround from 2016.

Revenue rose 15.7 per cent to CNY603.6 billion, driven in large part by growth in the company’s consumer business.

Though Huawei’s carrier group remained its largest segment, with 49.3 per cent of total sales, revenue for the unit increased by just 2.5 per cent to CNY297.8 billion in 2017. By contrast, Huawei’s consumer business increased revenue nearly 32 per cent year-on-year to CNY237.2 billion as the company shipped a total of 153 million smartphones. The segment’s share of Huawei’s total revenue climbed from 34.5 per cent in 2016 to 39.3 per cent in 2017.

The company’s enterprise group also posted swift growth of 35.1 per cent year-on-year to CNY54.9 billion.

Regional challenges
Huawei’s ongoing struggle with US officials and impacts from investment cycles in Latin America showed up on the balance sheet in the form of a nearly 11 per cent drop in revenue from the Americas in 2017.

However, business in Huawei’s home market of China boomed, posting 29 per cent revenue growth to CNY305.1 billion. Revenue from the Asia Pacific region also saw a double-digit increase of 10.3 per cent year-on-year to CNY74.4 billion while EMEA revenue climbed a more modest 4.7 per cent to CNY163.9 billion.

In a statement, Huawei rotating chairman Ken Hu noted “opportunities and challenges are popping up faster than ever before, and non-stop open innovation is the only way we can keep ahead of the game”. To that end, Huawei pledged to continue increasing its innovation investments, with plans to pump more than $10 billion into R&D each year.