India, Dec. 29 -- For Huawei, 2020 was an even more bruising year than 2019.

The no. 1 vendor lost access not just to US components but to anything built with US-sourced equipment, threatening a large portion of its networks and handset business.

To now, sanctions have had a limited financial impact, with first half revenue and profit up, but that will change as its smartphones business declines.

So next year is very much uncharted territory. These are some of the factors that will shape Huawei in 2021.

The road to 5G

First is the way litmus markets Germany, India and Brazil decide to treat Huawei 5G kit.

The US campaign to throttle Huawei's 5G business has been moderately successful. Of the world's top 10 economies, aside from Chin...