Citing the International Data Corporation, a Chinese-owned market intelligence firm, Huawei sold 206 million smartphones last year, of which 101 million were sold outside of China.
The latest restriction means Huawei will only have access to the basic, publicly available version of the Android operating system. Citing Chinese business news portal Yicai, Sin Chew also reported that Huawei’s Consumer Business Group spokesperson Yu Chengdong as saying that the smartphone maker has been in the process of creating its in-house operating system known as Hongmeng.
In a memo published last Thursday, the firm said any employee caught buying or using Apple’s iPhone, visiting fast-food joints such as KFC and McDonald’s or going on a vacation in the United States will be “dismissed immediately”.