Eric Xu, chief executive of Chinese tech firm Huawei dismissed the theory of smartwatches being ‘smart’, smart enough to replace smartphones.
Interestingly, the remark comes from a CEO of a firm who recently launched Watch 2, an Android 2.0-based update to its smartwatch, at the Mobile World Congress this year.
Xu made the remarks while responding to a question during the firm’s analyst summit in Shenzhen, at which he was asked whether the development of smartwatches would affect his firm’s smartphone business, reported South China Morning Post.
In a response, Xu said: "I am always confused as to what smartwatches are for when we have smartphones.
"Therefore, when the smartwatch team in Huawei presents their ideas to me with great excitement, I keep reminding them to consider whether there are tangible needs [for these products] in the market."
Mr Xu, who is one of three rotating CEOs at Huawei, each serving six months at a time, confronted he himself not a man who wears watches. "I’ve never been optimistic about this market," he said.
The smartwatch market is stumbling for many tech firms, according to analysts. The sector is not growing as fast as it was anticipated to.
According to an IDC report, the global shipment of smatwatches in 2016 amounted to 49.2 million, slightly higher than the 48.7 million shipments recorded in 2015.
Data sources claim, the Huawei had never disclosed official figures on its smart wearables sale, while Apple and Samsung continues to dominate the smartwatch sector.
