PARIS – Huawei expanded its global footprint Friday with teh launch of its Nova 14 smartphone and a new generation of smartwatches, intensifying competition in both markets as Apple began shipping its iPhone 17.
The company unveiled the Watch GT 6, available in 46mm and 41mm sizes, boasting battery life of up to 21 days for the larger model – a 50 percent enhancement over its predecessor - and 14 days for the smaller version, doubling the previous generation’s performance. Huawei also improved the GT 6’s positioning accuracy by 20 percent through antenna redesign, algorithmic updates, and the addition of India’s NavIC navigation satellite system, bringing the total number of positioning systems to six.
Alongside the GT 6, Huawei launched the Watch Ultimate 2, featuring a “mechanical seal” for water resistance up to 150 meters and sonar dialog technology enabling underwater messaging between watches up to 30 meters.
“We redesigned the antenna, the algorithms and added NavIC (India’s navigation satellite system) as the sixth positioning system,” said Andreas Zimmer, Huawei’s head of product in the European Union, in a pre-launch interview.
The Nova 14 smartphone’s global release follows its debut in China four months prior. Huawei currently leads the global wrist-worn wearables market, holding 20 percent market share with 9.9 million units shipped in the second quarter, surpassing Xiaomi and Apple, according to IDC data.The company has maintained market leadership for two consecutive quarters.