Xiaomi booth at the 2025 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
BARCELONA – The ongoing conflict between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese smartphone suppliers that have developed globally over the past few years have been linked to Chinese smartphone suppliers, which is similar to Huawei.
Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, from Chinese electronics player Millet To commemorate and oppo, show off their latest equipment. Xiaomi even has the latest electric cars – SU7 Ultra – When presenting, it looks to cause a buzz.
Xiaomi also launched high-end smartphones although Honors announces $10 billion investment in AI. Oppo touts its AI privacy features and other lesser-known players, such as Tecno, owned by Transsion, unveiled products (such as AI glasses).
Huawei also attended Mate XT, Trifold smartphone It has been launched in the international market Draw a very cautious comeback To the global field.
To some extent, Huawei is a cautionary tale for other Chinese players. The company was once the company in Shenzhen, once the world’s largest smartphone supplier until the U.S. sanctions Crushed the mobile phone business.
Just as Huawei hopes to dip its toes into international smartphone sales again, other Chinese players are growing rapidly, Trump is back in the White House, which is likely to mask the presence of these companies in MWC, said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight.
“I think for Huawei, when they start to get back on their feet, Trump’s reappearance and overall strategy on “America First” and putting pressure on the Chinese will not only affect Huawei, but all Chinese manufacturers that will be on MWC,” Wood told CNBC.
“I think that for a lot of investment and huge spending from Chinese manufacturers, this will be the elephants in the MWC room and hang on them in the coming months.”
When CNBC contacted CNBC, Xiaomi, Oppo and Honor did not comment immediately.
Chinese players have been a MWC feature for many years as they expand their footprint globally. According to Canalys, eight of the top ten smartphone players are currently based in China. For example, Xiaomi is the third largest in the world.
Xiaomi showed off its new SU7 Ultra electric car at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
Xiaomi has grown in Europe, while others (such as Transsion) focus on emerging markets. With the possibility of this success, there is also potential for further review.
“The danger for these manufacturers is that if they put their heads too far above the railing, they will start to be under scrutiny by the U.S. government,” Wood said.
“So, I think they have to step into a thin line in Barcelona and make sure they don’t make too much noise because the last thing they want is to be poster kids in Chinese technology and be the latest focus for Trump and his advisers.”
So far, Trump has been working to increase tariffs on Chinese imports. But little action was taken in terms of technical limitations. Under former President Joe Biden, Washington has brought several rounds of restrictions aimed at cutting China’s access to advanced technology in areas such as semiconductors.
European Focus
Other analysts agree that the risk of scrutiny is increasing, but point to some key reasons why other Chinese manufacturers may not limit Huawei.
Francisco Jeronimo, vice president of data and analysis at International Data Corporation (IDC), said that Chinese brands will focus their energy on Europe rather than the United States, which may help shift scrutiny in Washington.
“They (Chinese players) absolutely have no chance to sell in the United States, but if they continue to target Europe, I don’t think it’s a risk, I don’t think it’s going to be the point where the U.S. government is, in Europe, they need to tell any country that they need to stop selling Xiaomi or Honor or any other brand.”
“I don’t think there is a huge risk because at the end of the day, because they aren’t targeting our consumers.”
The Honors Award announced a $10 billion AI investment at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress 2025, known as the Honors Alpha Program.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
Neil Shah, a partner at Counterpoint Research, said another reason the U.S. may not value Chinese companies as much as Huawei does.
“It’s hard to say that Trump will tighten the screws of Chinese players because they rely on Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm,” Shah told CNBC.
Chinese players selling Chinese players run Google’s Android operating system on their smartphones. At the same time, many of them rely on chips from American companies Qualcomm. Many Chinese smartphone manufacturers also sell laptops and tablets that may run Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
Shah believes restricting Chinese companies’ access to the technology could harm U.S. companies.
“Qualcomm will lose, Microsoft will lose, and eventually Google will lose,” Shah said.
