Why it matters to you
Huawei has become quite a major player in the smartphone space, but it hasn’t been available in the U.S. That could change with an alleged partnership with AT&T.
It’s not just people hoping to immigrate to the U.S. — smartphones are looking to cross the ocean as well. Namely, smartphones from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, who has quickly become one of the fastest growing mobile device makers in the world. In fact, Huawei is the third-largest seller of mobile phones, a huge step up from just five years ago when it barely managed to eke out 1 percent of the market share.
But in order to grow further, Huawei realizes it needs to find its way into one major market — the United States. Now, The Information is reporting the Chinese company is hoping to work with American cellphone service provider AT&T to bring Huawei’s proprietary Kirin mobile phone chip to the network, and then, perhaps, its phones.
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Of course, just because Huawei hopes that AT&T might approve such a request doesn’t mean that it will come to fruition. As Fortune noted, the cell phone provider is often approached with such propositions and doesn’t always agree to the terms. Even if things did progress smoothly, the process would still be a rather lengthy one, involving terms negotiations, stocking discussions, and more. So far, neither Huawei nor AT&T have commented on the alleged deal.
This isn’t the first time Huawei has tried to partner with an American company in order to make its way into the country. Previously, the firm attempted to work with Google, both the make the Nexus 6P and to manufacture the Pixel phones. Neither proposition, however, ultimately came to pass. But who knows — perhaps a relationship with AT&T will prove more successful and will finally be the key Huawei has been looking for to open the door to the U.S. market.