Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has been struggling for survival after the United States imposed sanctions on it. Licensing its smartphone designs to other companies could be one of the ways to circumvent the restrictions.

Notably, a number of countries, led by the US, have banned Huawei from operating in their territory after it was revealed that the Chinese government could use the company to spy. The technology giant is currently trying to circumvent the restrictions by licensing its smartphone designs to a unit of state-owned China Postal and Telecommunications Appliances. The company is also actively negotiating with representatives of the Xnova brand. Another source claimed that Chinese telecom equipment maker TD Tech would also sell some Huawei-designed phones.

Devices will be produced with Huawei's design, but under a different brand name, and profits will be generated from third-party manufacturers. Perhaps this will help Huawei remain among the leading smartphone developers.

Analysts believe that China's Huawei will see revenue from its smartphone business drop by at least $30-40 billion in 2021. The US imposed sanctions on the tech giant in May 2019. This resulted in Huawei being deprived of access to key US technologies, particularly advanced semiconductors, which are used for its smartphones.