Huawei Technologies Co is striving to strengthen its footprint in the global smart wearables market by doubling down on healthcare research and development as it sees growing demand for health monitoring and management.

"Globalization has been the core of our vision. From product positioning, design to engineering, we have been making all our efforts with the global market in mind," said Zhang Wei, president of smart wearables and sports health unit of Huawei's consumer business group.

"This kind of global mindset enables us to make research and development with a more open perspective. We hope our products and services can better cater to local consumers, no matter in China, the Asia-Pacific or Europe, meeting local people's demand while also complying with local regulations," he said during the Huawei Developer Conference 2023, being held in Dongguan, southern Guangdong province, from Friday to Sunday.

The Shenzhen-based telecom equipment and smartphone maker said it will build a new sport health lab in Europe this year. Currently, it has 10 research institutes and three such labs across the world.

Zhang said the company is carrying out innovative study in a range of health fields, including sports and blood pressure, ovary and emotion.

So far, the accumulative number of users of Huawei's sports health apps has amounted to 450 million globally, with monthly active users hitting 100 million. Global shipments of Huawei's smart wearables have reached 130 million.

According to a report from market research firm Counterpoint, while global shipments of smartwatches increased by 9 percent year-on-year in 2022, shipments in the Chinese market dropped by 8.8 percent as anti-COVID-19 restrictions dampened consumption.

Huawei accounted for the biggest share in the country's smartwatch market with 27 percent last year, up from 23 percent a year earlier, the report said.

sally@chinadailyhk.com