It’s getting harder for Chinese telecom giant to sell its smartphones in the US.
Huawei, the Chinese tech behemoth is having a bad time in the US. Huawei was supposed to make a deal with a US smartphone carrier, AT&T, but the company backed off from the deal right before signing at CES, earlier this year. Meanwhile, the distrust of security agencies in the US is another worrying factor for Huawei.
Just recently, America’s largest online retailer of electronics, Best Buy has “ceased ordering” new smartphones from Huawei, making it even harder for the Chinese company to grow its business in the US. According to the sources of Cnet, Best Buy will stop selling Huawei’s products in the coming weeks after ending the currently available stock.
The claim has been made from a person close to Best Buy officials, however, an official of Best Buy has denied commenting on the matter. “We don’t comment on specific contracts with vendors, and we make decisions to change what we sell for a variety of reasons,” said a spokeswoman of Best Buy.
A Huawei spokesperson has also responded in a similar manner, saying that “we do not discuss the details of our partner relationships.”
The move comes as a severe blow to Huawei and the Chinese giant is left with no option except to sell its smartphone through open channels. Previously, another major smartphone carrier, Verizon also ended its plans to sell Huawei phones last year.
Last month, various security and intelligence agencies of the U.S. government, such as FBI and CIA warned the US citizens from buying or leasing telecom equipment from Huawei or ZTE Corp, raising concerns that the firms would use their tech to spy on the U.S. officials.
Huawei is the third largest smartphones’ manufacturer and enjoys a fair market share in all major and emerging markets of Asia, Middle-East, and Europe, however, they are unable to hold their grip in the US market due to the distrust of the country’s officials.
