Huawei shrugged off ongoing challenges by the US to report a strong set of results for the opening nine months, revealing increases in profit, a steady rise in smartphone shipments and 5G customer gains.

In a statement, the Chinese vendor said revenue for the period to end-September hit CNY610.8 billion ($86 billion), up 24.4 per cent year-on-year, with a net profit margin of 8.7 per cent. The company does not provide profit or loss figures in its interim reports.

Its smartphone business also performed well, despite concerns consumers would be turned off by its loss of access to Google apps and services, as part of a US export ban. Huawei said shipments in the first three quarters exceeded 185 million units, a 26 per cent increase.

The company said it also saw rapid growth in other areas, including PCs, tablets, wearables and smart audio products.

5G contracts up

News from its 5G network business was also positive, despite a US campaign to encourage its global allies to drop the vendor from playing a role in deploying the next-generation technology.

However, Huawei said it had signed more than 60 commercial contracts for 5G with “leading global carriers” by end-September, a rise of 10 from figures reported in July.

The company also shipped more than 400,000 5G massive MIMO active antenna units to global markets.

“In the carrier business, commercial deployment of 5G networks around the world has sped up,” the company said.