Huawei looked all set to snag carrier support in the US for its 2018 phones. Earlier this year, both AT&T and Verizon were tipped to carry the Chinese firm’s phones. But not carriers have now killed the deals.
This means there will be no carrier-ready Huawei phones in the US during 2018 – or likely thereafter. Why? Simple: the carriers came under pressure from the US government to nix the deals, as it turns out the government is worried about spying.
The MAJOR concern, however, concerns the incoming 5G network, which will work in everything from cars to phones. Apparently, Huawei cannot be trusted, and the US government has taken a stance that will ensure its phones will not be featured by any US carriers.
You will still be able to buy Huawei phones in the US, and run them on AT&T and Verizon, but you will have to do this via a third party retailer. Again, the reason is likely a legal thing; no carrier wants to be accused by the US government or NSA of allowing potential spy technology in the US.
All seem a little paranoid? Yeah, it kinda does. I mean, there are plenty of Chinese products sold in the US – like millions. Seems odd that Huawei is the only one being penalised? Unless they know something we don’t know, which is certainly possible.
This will be a huge blow for Huawei, however, as the firm has grown its phone business MASSIVELY in the past few years. A deal with US carriers would have added in plenty of additional users and market share, bolstering the company’s financials even further.
The things that’s most odd, though, is that Huawei phones will still be available in the US, via third party online retailers. The only thing that has changed is that carriers are distancing themselves from the company.
And this was a last minute-style decision; the government must have swooped in at the last moment and halted the deal once it’d gotten word about the two deals that were on the table at Version and AT&T.
So much for globalisation.
by rgoodwin via Featured Articles
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