Enlarge / Huawei Mate 10 Pro, one of the phones that won’t be sold by US carriers. (credit: Valentina Palladino)
Huawei is the world’s third biggest smartphone company—behind Samsung and Apple—and sells phones across the globe. But the Chinese company is virtually unknown in the US. Allegations of stolen intellectual property and spying have dogged Huawei, impeding its efforts to expand its US reach.
Earlier this month, “political pressure” was reported to have derailed an agreement between Huawei and AT&T that would have seen the carrier selling the smartphone company’s hardware. Bloomberg is now reporting that Verizon, too, has dropped its plans to sell Huawei phones, including the new Mate 10 Pro. Huawei will still sell phones directly to consumers, and they’ll work on US networks. But without the promotion and subsidy that carrier partnerships offer, significant sales volumes are unlikely.
Huawei’s difficulties in the US started in 2003, when Cisco accused it of stealing code for router software. More trouble followed in 2008, when Huawei’s bid to buy 3Com was blocked. In 2011, the US Department of Defense reported to Congress that it was concerned about the company’s close ties to the Chinese military, and a 2012 House Intelligence report echoed these concerns.
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