Huawei Technologies expects revenue from its consumer devices unit to grow by about 30 percent next year from the USD 9 billion forecast for this year. Huawei also plans to launch smartphones using Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system later this year or early next year, Wan Biao, CEO of Huawei Device, said in an interview with Reuters. He warned however that high investment in the next 1-2 years to grow the business will impact profitability. In 2013, the consumer device division's revenues are expected to increase by 30 percent, led by "at least" 40 percent growth in smartphones, the CEO said. The company earlier forecast shipments of more than 100 million mobile phones this year, including 60 million smartphones. Wan also said Huawei was considering developing its own smartphone operating system, but he gave no timeframe for this.
