November 22, 2021
Ben Schoon
– Nov. 22nd 2021 9:01 am PT
@NexusBen
It’s been over two years since Google was forced to cut off Huawei as a result of the ban by the US government on the Chinese company, and things aren’t exactly going well. In a cheeky tweet today, Huawei poked fun at the ban with a fake Black Friday sale.
Taking advantage of this week’s countless Black Friday discounts and sales – the best ones over at 9to5Toys – Huawei took to Twitter to announce a “100% off” sale on smartphones it sells in the United States. The catch? Huawei can’t officially sell any products in the US, and hasn’t been able to do so since May of 2019.
Unofficially, it’s still possible to get some Huawei devices through online retailers, but these are generally older devices we’d highly recommend against.
In a follow-up tweet, Huawei, of course, confirms this is nothing but a joke, adding that the company is “ready when you are” to re-enter the US smartphone market if trade restrictions were to be lifted.
OK, everyone. It's just a joke. We can't sell anything in the USA 😭😭😭 #ReadyWhenYouAre
— HuaweiUSA (@HuaweiUSA) November 22, 2021
Huawei’s leadership originally claimed that US sanctions wouldn’t hurt the company’s core business, but two years later, it’s clear that wasn’t true. Huawei has since launched an Android-based platform known as HarmonyOS which adds additional features for its smartphones and tablets. The company’s sales, though, have been continually dropping as sanctions prevent access to key components of these devices. Just last week, it was reported that Huawei would start to license its designs out to other companies in China.
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@NexusBen
Ben is a writer and video producer for 9to5Google.
Find him on Twitter @NexusBen. Send tips to schoon@9to5g.com or encrypted to benschoon@protonmail.com.
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