A leading Huawei executive told IFA Berlin only Alphabet spends more on R&D as he discussed how health and fitness had become a key focus for the Chinese company, and revealed pricing details for two of its latest smartphones.

William Tian, president of the west European region at Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, insisted the company remained committed to the area and claimed it ranked second in shipments of health and fitness devices in 2021 on more than 100 million units.

He noted the vendor’s latest fitness-focused wearable, the Watch D, is already able to measure blood pressure and could ultimately be capable of assessing blood sugar levels.

Tian stated more than 80 research institutes had partnered with Huawei on health and fitness R&D, with a dedicated facility opened at the vendor’s headquarters in 2021. During IFA Berlin, it also unveiled a partnership to incorporate fitness tracking app Strava’s features into its devices.

“We are still innovating”, Tian said, adding Huawei continued to bring “many new technologies and products” to its customers.

Tian highlighted the 60MP selfie camera of its nova 10 and nova 10 Pro smartphones, which were unveiled in July.

Both run a Snapdragon 778G 4G processor and Huawei’s EMUI 12 OS, with the nova 10 priced from €549 and Pro from €699, each in 8GB RAM and 256GB storage guise.

Nova 10 offers a 6.67-inch OLED and 4000mAh battery, versus a 6.78-inch display and 4500mAh power pack on the Pro.

European pricing for the Watch D starts at €399: GSMArena reports the device is due on sale from October.