back to article Huawei consumer biz pres: Are we in talks with Trump? Nope

Huawei unveiled the best cameraphone in the world yesterday, but only the most determined Americans will see it. And it's set to stay that way. Answering media questions at the Paris launch of its new phones, Walter Ji, president of Huawei's Consumer Business Unit, said there were no ongoing discussions to fix the freeze. …

  1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    The American gadget market is hard

    I seem to remember that non-US badged phones have always struggled. I suspect that Apple has a handy lead with Samsung second but only due to an almighty marketing push – too lazy to look for real data. I don't think an absence of tarrifs would make much difference for Huawei and they're right the various Asian markets are much bigger.

    Huawei really wants to be able to sell kit to the networks. But, again, the US has always been pretty protectionist in this area.

    1. Danny 14

      Re: The American gadget market is hard

      www.statista.com seem to think otherwise. Apple and Samsung are head to head. There are quite a few other brands in there that arent american either.

    2. sense_amidst_madness

      Re: The American gadget market is hard

      People in the US don't want the Chinese government spying on them. Its no secret that Huawei has close ties to the Chinese security service and has been shown to have back doors into their devices. If you don't care about security buy a Huawei. I'll pass thanks.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The only loser is the US consumer..

    Why do so many american consumers just accept this? Fact is most phone manufacturers these days are fleecing the customer.. yet the companies who do provide good value and innovation (i.e. the Xiaomi's and Huawei's Honor brand) are effectively being pushed out of the market by the backdoor..

    When you compare the likes of Honor 7X for £200-£300, to something like a Galaxy S9 or Pixel 2 which cost £700-£800, there really is not enough difference or innovation to justify the cost difference. The progress of innovation in Smartphones has stagnated over the past 2-3 years, so people who do splash out on the new flagship phone, are simply paying ridiculous amounts for small nominal improvements over existing mid-teer phones

    1. Timmy B

      Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

      "When you compare the likes of Honor 7X for £200-£300, to something like a Galaxy S9 or Pixel 2 which cost £700-£800, there really is not enough difference or innovation to justify the cost difference. "

      Honor phones never getting updates and Pixels getting very frequent updates is a good enough difference IMO. It's surprising that people on here are always seemingly security conscious and then don't care about this.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

        "Honor phones never getting updates and Pixels getting very frequent updates is a good enough difference IMO"

        OK, so you've never actually owned one.. I brought my wife a Honor 7X for her birthday last January 2017, in that time she's had at least 7 or 8 updates (I should know.. I sat and applied them last Saturday, after she just ignored them!).

        But updates a side - The life expectancy of a phone these days is 18-24 months, for the price of the Pixel, I could buy the latest and greatest Honor model every 6 months.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

          Sorry - Slight correction, it was the 6X, not 7X (doh)

    2. Lysenko

      Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

      Our colonial cousins never stopped worrying about the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify their precious bodily fluids. This is just the digital version.

    3. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

      And, is it any different for cars?

    4. This post has been deleted by its author

    5. Jeffrey Nonken

      Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

      "Why do so many american consumers just accept this?"

      Probably most don't know or don't care.

      I know and I care but not sure what to do about it. Not vote for Trump? Already done.

      I'm gong to need an extra phone soon and I've picked the Huawei Mate 10 Lite. I probably wouldn't have chosen a Huawei but I wanted to give the finger to the paranoid schmucks in my government.

      I may not be a rebel or an activist but I am contrary.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

      "Why do so many american consumers just accept this?"

      I think American citizens are quite well aware that their government is not there to help them. If they try to contact their congresspeople, unless they are large contributors they may have difficulty getting in touch.

      As for voting, that doesn't help either. As Ron Paul said just today, forget about getting a third political party - right now a second one would be a huge step forward. People voted for Obama, hoping for a change - and got more of the same. People voted for Trump, hoping for a change - and got more of the same.

      "Now that's the system, Mr. Rearden, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with".

    7. Spaller

      Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

      Sure, let's buy cheap phones so we can be spied upon by a foreign power who would just love us to buy their 'cheap' phones. One good thing that can be said about it is that at least it is not a Russian phone. Who would trust a Russian phone? Why trust a Chinese one totally sourced there?

      A post yesterday from the South Chinese Morning Post noted Intellivsion 7MPx cameras installed to do face recognition of jaywalkers and send them text messages while they are jaywalking. If they do it too much, their government 'social score' will be affected.

      Just imagine what the Communist Party could order to be put into a phone made there. Oh, you could look at G Data's report a couple years ago about finding malware on phones from Huawei, Xiaomi, and Lenovo. Huawei apparently replied that the security breaches must have occurred further down the supply chain. Sounds similar to what the NSA does to Cisco gear during shipment? You do know that practically every Chinese company has a Communist Party cell embedded deeply within it?

      Sure, get a cheap phone. That's a good plan, at least for the ones 'giving' it to you.

      1. Lysenko

        Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

        Who would trust a Russian phone? Why trust a Chinese one totally sourced there?

        I trust Moscow and Beijing not to presume universal jurisdiction, attempting to extradite people every 5 seconds over alleged hacking offences or trying to seize records held in Irish data centres based on extra-territorial warrants. So, a Yottaphone is definitely something I would consider. The FSB/SVR may be just as bad as the FBI/NSA (being worse isn't possible) for snooping, but they don't go around pretending that some Moscow magistrate has authority in Dublin or seizing foreign security researchers off planes.

        1. Spaller

          Re: The only loser is the US consumer..

          Red herring alert. Jurisdiction has little to do with what nonsense gets put into your Chinese or Russian phone. Sure, go start your business in China. Be sure to take a copy of your IP with you to give them. You do know we do not have reciprocity. You do know we do not get a copy of Huawei's source code? Do you?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Quite right

    Mr Ji is quite correct. It is Huawei's business to research the market and build superb equipment. If Americans do not want to buy "the best camera phone in the world", that is up to them.

    The USA has slightly more than 4% of the world's population. There are plenty of people in other countries who will be happy to buy Chinese products - even if they are better and cheaper than US products.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "The USA has slightly more than 4% of the world's population"

      Yes, but companies usually look more at per capita income.... and you're not to going to sell many $900 phones in Bangladesh.

      1. Peshman

        Re: "The USA has slightly more than 4% of the world's population"

        No, but you are going to sell 10 $300 phones instead. That's why there are so many mid-range handsets available. Heck I can pick up a Huawei P10 in the UK for GBP350 at the moment. Just by economies of scale the US can keep its 4% of affluent populace.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "The USA has slightly more than 4% of the world's population"

          But the lower-end the market, the thinner the margins. Economy of scale doesn't work well always - or Apple won't be the company with the highest market cap. You can go bankrupt instead selling a lot of cheap stuff.

          1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

            Re: "The USA has slightly more than 4% of the world's population"

            Economy of scale doesn't work well always - or Apple won't be the company with the highest market cap. You can go bankrupt instead selling a lot of cheap stuff.

            Amazon, which does have famously thin margins, recently surpassed Apple in market capitalisation, I think. So you're wrong both on assumption and conclusion.

    2. Youngone Silver badge

      Re: Quite right

      If that photo of Mr. Ji was taken with the new Huawei phone I'm not sure it is much good. The white balance is awful.

  4. Gene Cash Silver badge

    > "Why do so many american consumers just accept this?"

    Most hop on Amazon, buy their phone, and are done with it. Best Buy, Sears, etc are irrelevant these days.

  5. mhenriday
    FAIL

    If one cannot compete on price and performance,

    legislate or regulate....

    The United States seems to be running scared....

    Henri

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