Recent rumors have suggested that Huawei may launch a smartphone on U.S. carriers in 2018, and now the company has come out and confirmed its plans.
Richard You, president of Huawei's consumer business, has revealed that Huawei will begin selling the Mate 10 through U.S. carriers in 2018. Yu declined to share any info about which carriers will sell the Mate 10 or when the launch will happen, but he did say that the phone will be "competitively priced" and that more details will be shared at CES in January.
Previous rumors have suggested that Huawei is in talks with AT&T and Verizon.
"I think that we can bring value to the carriers and to consumers. Better product, better innovation, better user experience," Yu said. He added that he doesn't think the Mate 10 will be affected by the U.S. government and concerns that Huawei is a security threat. "In consumer sales, when people really start using Huawei products, they will change their minds."
Huawei will also begin selling its phones through carriers in Japan in 2018, Yu said.
The Huawei Mate 10 is a flagship-tier device that features a 5.9-inch 2560x1440 display, Leica-branded dual rear camera setup with a 12MP RGB sensor and 20MP monochrome sensor, and a 4,000mAh battery. There's also 4GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, and Android 8.0 Oreo.
It's great to hear that Huawei is indeed bringing its Mate 10 flagship to U.S. carriers. Most consumers in the U.S. still buy their phones from their carriers, so launching the Mate 10 on a U.S. carrier should expose the Mate 10 to many new people. We'll just have to wait and see what kind of advertising push the carriers give the Mate 10 to ensure that the phone gets in front of shoppers.
