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Huawei CEO Puts The Mocker On Smartwatches

This time last year top Chinese phone brand Huawei, was spruiking the advantages of owning one of the Companies new smart watches, now their CEO is preaching a new message.

Eric Xu,Huawei CEO now claims that he doesn’t see the point in smartwatches, comments that could well have an impact on sales.

His comment come just two months after Huawei launched a new smart watch during the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Local management have not commented at this stage.

Xu was responding to a question during the firm’s analyst summit in Shenzhen yesterday, at which he was asked if smartphones are dying because of wearable tech.

Mr Xu said: “I’ve never figured out why we need to wear smartwatches when everything we need is on our phones.”

Mr Xu, who is one of three rotating CEOs at Huawei, each serving six months at a time, is also reported by Forbes to have said: “I’m not a man who wears watches, and I’ve never been optimistic about this market.”

His comments have not come as a surprise to some in the industry.

“Smartwatches are a solution looking for a problem, rather than being a game-changer,” Ben Wood, an analyst at tech consultancy CCS Insight told the BBC recently.

Mr Wood also praised Mr Xu’s honesty, saying: “It’s one view of just one of the three chief executives at Huawei.”

The smartwatch sector has been dominated by tech firms such as Apple and Samsung.

However, fashion and luxury watch manufacturers also announced their interest in the devices at the recent Baselworld trade show.

The BBC reports that brands such as Guess, Montblanc and Movodo, all revealed plans for new Android Wear smartwatches during the event.

They join TAG Heuer and Fossil, which operates a portfolio of watch brands including Michael Kors, Skagen and Armani Exchange.

Mr Wood said there has been a lot of progress since the early offerings created by “middle aged engineers” in what he described as a “sea of sameness.”

He added: “2017 is a pivotal year for smartwatches with lots of new launches at the end of this year. That doesn’t guarantee success, but with a lot of them, we’ll see if people want them.”