Chinese telecom equipment and smartphone maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd said on Friday (Mar 31) that net profit edged up just 0.4 percent last year, its slowest annual growth since 2011. Huawei, the world's No. 3 smartphone maker behind Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, said net profit rose to 37.1 billion yuan (US$5.3 billion) Global revenue climbed 32 percent to 521.6 billion yuan, slightly slower than 35 percent growth a year earlier. Revenue from its consumer business group rose 44 percent to 179.8 billion yuan (US$25.9 billion), lagging the company's own forecast of US$30 billion made a year ago. It shipped 139 million phones last year. Revenue from its carrier business rose 24 percent to 290.6 billion yuan.
