Huawei director doubts the usefulness of smartwatches

At a meeting for analysts, Huawei’s director openly questioned the usefulness of smartwatches. That is striking, because Huawei announced its second watch with Android Wear a month and a half ago.

According to the South China Morning Post, the director of Huawei said that he misses the added value of a smartwatch. “I always wonder why we need a smartwatch when we have a smartphone. That’s why I always ask when Huawei’s smartwatch team presents a plan to me with great enthusiasm, what are the needs for these products in the market.”

CEO Eric Xu Zhijun said at a meeting with Huawei analysts and journalists in China, in response to a question about whether smartwatches would ever cannibalize smartphone sales. Huawei recently presented its Watch 2 and Watch 2 Classic, two models with Android Wear. That happened two years after the manufacturer unveiled its first watch under the name Watch.

The smartwatch market doesn’t seem to have boomed as many manufacturers may have hoped. Analysts estimate that smartwatch makers worldwide sell tens of millions of copies per year.