First look: Huawei P8 lite, Chinese maker's inexpensive new U.S. smartphone
NEW YORK—Huawei is the latest Chinese tech company with serious designs on the U.S. market.
On Wednesday, Huawei (pronounced "Wa-Way") launched the mid-tier P8 lite smartphone for $249.99, an aggressive price for an "unlocked" handset that isn't subsidized by a wireless carrier.That means, of course, no contract with a carrier is required and you can choose your preferred wireless network.
The U.S. market is the largest in the world for premium phones and while the P8 lite isn't, as the "lite" name suggests, Huawei's top notch flagship, it's thin and light and it boasts impressive specs for the price.
Huawei Device USA president Zhiqiang Xu says his company wants to triple its global market share from about 5% to 15%. In the U.S., Huawei hopes to become a "top three" brand within 5 years.
"It's a very ambitious goal but they're giving themselves time, " says Current Analysis tech analyst Avi Greengart.
Huawei is not the only Chinese handset maker to invade U.S. shores. There's the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 that recently went on sale here, also at $249.99. Last week at the Code conference, ex-Googler Hugo Barra indicated that Xiaomi would also like to sell phones in the U.S., though he admitted there are hurdles to doing so and the company hasn't announced timing.
And Lenovo, of course, now owns the once iconic Motorola Mobility brand.
For his part, Xu admits that launching in the U.S. is "a challenge for us. The best way to address this problem is to deliver the product into the market." As part of its strategy, Huawei plans to focus on social media.
The product in this case, the P8 lite, features a 5-inch 720p high definition display protected by Gorilla Glass. Inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor. The phone is very thin (7.7mm) and while it is plastic, it feels good in the hand. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front facing camera. Via MicroSD you can bolster storage to 32GB. Unfortunately it also runs the KitKat version of Android rather than the newer Lollipop version.
Though the cost of the hardware is modest for an unlocked phone in this class, Huawei is partnering with the millennium-focused financial services company Affirm to provide three, six or 12-month financing options for those that can't afford the upfront price.
"Both (Huawei and Affirm) are trying to break into the U.S. consumer market so the partnership is very natural," says PayPal cofounder and Affirm CEO Max Levchin. "The other interesting parallel here is that Huawei is benefiting early adopters that recognize the notion of the un-bundling between the carrier and device manufacturer which is a trend that is gaining traction in the U.S."
You can get the P8 lite at GetHuawei.com, Amazon.com, Target.com and at such retailers as Fry's Electronics and B&H. It'll be coming to Best Buy later.
In addition to the P8 lite handset, Huawei is selling a $179 TalkBand B2 wearable fitness tracker. You can share data from the tracker to the UP Smart Coach app from Jawbone.
Huawei is being especially aggressive on the service side. The P8 lite carries a two-year warranty. The company will have a U.S.-based call center.
Analyst Greengart says "If you're concerned I'm buying a Chinese product from a Chinese company whose name I can't pronounce that may be true but if you're having any problems you're talking to Joanne in Iowa. I think that will also make a difference."
Hu says that Huawei also plans to launch a more premium phone into the U.S. market during the second half of the year.