Huawei CEO doesn't see need for smart watches

Xu reportedly said that he doesn't see the need for smart watches when the phone can do everything.

Huawei's CEO Eric Xu has reportedly said that he doesn't see the point of smart watches - even though the company only just announced its latest smart watch in February.

Speaking at the Huawei Analyst Summit in Shenzhen on Tuesday, Xu apparently responded to a question as to whether smartphones are dying by saying: "I'm not a man who wears watches, and I've never been optimistic about this market. In fact, I've never figured out why we need to wear smartwatches when everything we need is on our phones."

Xu said that he thinks that wearable tech will take the form of smart glasses or shirts, according to reports in Forbes.

Huawei announced its Android-based Watch 2 at Mobile World Congress in February, to generally positive reviews.

Analyst company IDC recently predicted that smart watches would be the leading form factor in the wearable technology segment, despite a drop in sales in 2016 due to delayed launches and shortages.

In 2016, smart watches made up 48% of the total wearables market, shipping 49.2 units; predicted to rise to 152m units, accounting for 64% of wearables by 2021.

In the Middle East and Africa (MEA), the wearables market showed strong growth, up by 38% year-on-year in Q3 2016, according to IDC, for a total of 1.96m units shipped.