Going the privacy route makes sense for e.g. Apple because it's a moat they can dig that Google can not follow. For the same reason that Google can't follow -reputation-, however, Huawei can't either. Too many of the people for whom privacy would be a selling point do not trust China or companies with ties to China.

They might be able to pull it off, but it's an uphill battle, so I wouldn't expect them to try.

Edit: OK, it's not exactly* the same reason as Google, as Google is practically unable to build privacy-preserving features without harming their primary revenue streams, whereas China might not force Huawei to not build privacy-protecting features. They do share a reputation problem though.