Huawei to launch Mate 8 in the US market next year

Huawei is determined to make an impression in the promising and lucrative US market next year. After the Honor branded smartphones, it is speculated that the company is planning to launch the much coveted Mate 8 in the US as well.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Huawei will unveil its flagship device for the first time for the US market in 2016. Starting Dec. 9, the high-end smartphone went on sale in China.

After Samsung and Apple, Huawei is the third largest smartphone maker in the world by shipment. The company aims to release the smartphone at the Consumer Electronics Show (2016) in Las Vegas. In addition, as announced earlier, Huawei may also launch its Honor 5x at the consumer trade show next year.

In the US market Apple (36 percent) tops the list of the smartphone vendor market share in the third quarter. Samsung ranks second with 26 percent followed by LG which holds 15 percent market share.

The Huawei Mate 8 sports a 6-inch LCD display and is available in RAM configurations of 3 GB and 4 GB. The 3 GB/32 GB variant of the phone costs CNY 2,999 (AU$644 or US$470) while the 4 GB/64 GB model comes in at CNY 3,699 (AU$795 or US$580) in China. The device also features fingerprint sensor and a massive 4000 mAh battery.

Huawei has already made its strong foothold in the emerging markets Asia, Africa and Latin America with its budget-friendly handsets. However, the world’s biggest market for high-end devices is still unexplored by Huawei.

In an interview with the WSJ, Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman at Huawei mentioned that the company has dedicated teams for analysing the consumer preferences in the US market. The company also has plans to open a software design studio in San Francisco in 2016. The Google Nexus 6P is the first ever high-end smartphone made by Huawei.

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