Huawei is Coming for Apple’s US Market Share

Smartphone manufacturer Huawei has stumbled in earlier attempts to enter the US market. In 2012, the Shenzhen-based company surpassed Ericsson to become “the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world,” but that same year ran afoul of US lawmakers, who published a report advising American companies to avoid doing business with Huawei and fellow Shenzhen telecom company ZTE, “because they pose a national security threat to the US.”

While Huawei still dominates in China, in the US it plays third fiddle to Apple and Samsung, but the balance seems to be shifting in the Chinese tech giant’s favor. Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, announced yesterday that Huawei will unveil major plans for expanding its US footprint at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a major industry event that will take place in Las Vegas in January.

According to SCMP:

A successful debut of its [Huawei’s] smartphone brand in the US, the world’s biggest economy, would validate Huawei’s strategy of making high-end phones priced above US$500 to compete with the likes of Apple’s iPhone X and Samsung’s Galaxy Note8.

It would also represent a major comeback for Huawei in the US after a House of Representatives intelligence committee report in October 2012 said the company and ZTE Corp posed as threats to national security because of their ties to the Chinese government.

We should learn more at Richard Yu’s CES keynote on January 9; we’ll keep you posted on Huawei’s next Stateside moves after that.

Cover photo: Huawei at CES 2014 (source)