When Huawei started selling the P10 series in Canada through carriers, it immediately became obvious that the Chinese OEM will do the same in the U.S. sooner or later.
Prior to the release of the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus in Canada, reports had emerged suggesting that the Chinese OEM had plans to start selling its devices via AT&T, the second largest carrier in the U.S. At the time, it was a little too late for the P10 to make its debut in the country, but it is now emerging that 2018 will be the year Huawei makes its grand entry in the U.S.
Interestingly, Huawei is not just talking to AT&T, but it also wants its phones on Verizon. This is according to a report by ETNews, the same outlet that revealed plans about the deal with AT&T back in March 2017. Apparently, Huawei will kick off its U.S. campaign with the launch of Mate 10 or Mate 10 Pro at the upcoming CES 2018.
Huawei is currently the second-leading seller of smartphones in the world after usurping Apple in recent reports. However, the company has managed to do this without an official presence in the U.S., which is one of the largest smartphone markets on the planet. With this entry, especially through two of the most dominant carriers in the country, it’s easy to see why the company’s chiefs are so confident about becoming the best smartphone seller in the world.
In another similar report put forward by Bloomberg, it appears that Xiaomi is also following in the footsteps of Huawei. As it is, the Chinese OEM, which was once known as the Apple of China, is also in talks with Verizon and AT&T over a deal that might see the 2018 Xiaomi Mi 7 be the first smartphone to cove stateside. At this year’s CES event, Xiaomi made its debut with a bunch of gadgets targeting the U.S. market, but there was no phone. If this report is to be believed, this will come to an end after the MWC 2018, which is when the Xiaomi Mi 7 is expected to be unveiled.
It’s also possible that the Xiaomi Mi 7 might not make it to the U.S. According to Xiaomi executive Wang Xiang, they have plans to hit the U.S. market within two years, which means the Mi 7 could probably be too soon. Still, we cannot rule out anything at this moment.
As it stands, Apple is still the most popular smartphone seller in the U.S. The Cupertino Company commands a market share of over 30% followed closely by Samsung at 25.1%. ZTE is the only Chinese market with a significant market share in the U.S., which currently stands at 11.6%, but it’s still bettered by LG’s 17.2%. Given how cheap Xiaomi and Huawei phones can be when compared to Apple, Samsung and LG, it’ll be interesting to see how the market shifts after these two companies enter the U.S. smartphone space.