The forecast indicates that US government restrictions on Huawei’s access to American technology, including Google software, are starting to take a toll on the Chinese company’s international growt.

Washington claims it is trying to curb Huawei’s global expansion because of concerns that Beijing could use the Chinese company’s products for espionage purposes. More cynical observers suggest it is because the US is worried about Chinese industrial prowess damaging the US control of Technology.

The 240 million figure in 2019 was thanks largely in part to the timing of the US ban. Huawei’s extremely popular P30 and P30 Pro smartphones still shipped with Google apps in most regions and, because they were launched before the ban took place, Huawei was able to continue updating the devices, even launching a slightly revamped variant to boost sales.

This year will certainly be bleaker as Huawei won’t be able to support Google apps on its P40 series, set to launch later this month. Other factors such as the coronavirus outbreak could only further have an impact on Huawei’s sales this year.