The Rumor Mill recently hinted that one of the world's biggest smartphone manufacturers might finally jump into the smartphone market in the United States, pointing to a Huawei-branded debut sometime in 2018. At the time, information was scarce, but it sounded like a pretty bold move on Huawei's part, finally jumping into an already crowded sector.
Now, Huawei's Consumer Business President, Richard You, has confirmed that Huawei is indeed planning on launching one of its smartphones in the United States. To be specific, in 2018 at least one carrier will be launching the Mate 10. Which carriers will get the privilege remains unknown, and we don't know when the phone will launch, either, but Huawei should have plenty more to talk about during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January.
For fans of the Huawei brand, but who haven't been able to pick up a device yet, looks like 2018 will be your year.
It's an interesting move, to be sure, mostly because the fact the Mate 10 was announced back in October of this year. So when it does arrive on a U.S. carrier, it'll already be aging quite a bit. Plus, the beginning of the year is when we see quite a few brand new flagships from the likes of Samsung and HTC, so Huawei will have a tough hill to climb.
The Mate 10, for what it's worth, is a flagship device. It has a 5.9-inch 2560x1440 display, a pair of cameras with a 12MP RGB sensor and 20MP monochrome sensor on the back that are Leica-branded, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, Android 8.0 Oreo on board, and a battery that measures in at 4000mAh. Basically, as far as specs go, there's quite a bit to like there.
Huawei has to go pretty aggressive on the pricing for their flagship, I imagine. As I mentioned above, some of the biggest names in the smartphone industry are going to launch new devices in the early stages of 2018, probably around the time Huawei will launch the Mate 10, and they'll have to find a way to drift to the top of the pile. Price is definitely one way to do that, especially with its specifications.
Huawei isn't an unknown entity internationally (it will start selling its phones in Japan in 2018, too), but in the U.S. it might as well be for most consumers. It is fantastic news that the company will be going up for sale on U.S. carriers next year, but Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola, and others still have a leg up in brand recognition.
What about you? Are you looking forward to the impending arrival of a Huawei-branded smartphone on a U.S. carrier? If it becomes available on your chosen network, will you consider picking it up? Let me know!