Huawei currently enjoys the title of being the third biggest vendor of smartphone devices in the face of the planet (trailing only Samsung and Apple), but in the United States mobile market, success has remained sort of elusive for the Chinese tech giant. And it appears that things are not getting better, with the recent news that one of its most important retail partners in the country, Best Buy, is planning to stop selling Huawei mobile devices in the weeks to come. One of the first to break the news was Reuters, citing a source that offered reliable information regarding the matter.
It is no secret that Huawei has grand plans in America this year -- back in December of last year, the Chinese tech giant was reported to be looking to bring its flagship device offerings to American mobile users for the first time ever in 2018. That time, the talk was that the company (as well as another Chinese phone maker, Xiaomi) were already discussing with wireless industry leaders Verizon Wireless and AT&T about a deal to start pushing Huawei phones to US consumers in the next few months.
But then the bad news began to pile up soon after that -- AT&T had surprisingly backed out of its deal with Huawei, and by January early this year, it was reported that the wireless service provider was pressured by American lawmakers to ditch the Chinese mobile brand. A couple of weeks later, another report had indicated that Verizon Wireless was similarly urged strongly by the US government in order to get out of the Huawei deal. More than a month ago, six of the top intelligence officials in the country had spoken before the Senate Intelligence Committee, practically advising that Americans should not buy handsets made by Huawei (and ZTE).
And now, Best Buy appears to be the latest partner to foil Huawei’s US plans, and for sure, this has to hurt for the China based mobile manufacturer. Despite the fact that the majority of the volume of handset purchases in America are accomplished through wireless carrier channels, retail companies do also play a huge role in distributing Huawei phones. And there is no doubt about it, Best Buy is one of the most recognizable electronics retailers out there. With Best Buy on Huawei’s side, the phone maker could still at least take full advantage of the retailer’s numerous locations in order to push its smartphones across the country.
