Huawei 5G Smartphone

Huawei comming 5g smartphone

Even though the U.S. government has already warned Americans that Huawei devices could be spying on them and U.S. corporations, the company recently said that it wasn't giving up on the states. With the firm's ambitious goal to top Samsung and Apple to become the globe's largest smartphone manufacturer, it probably is important for Huawei to grab a toehold in the U.S. via one of the major U.S. carriers. 

To that end, Verizon and AT&T were supposed to carry the Huawei Mate 10 Proearlier this year, but both pulled out at the last minute. There is speculation that both wireless operators were told to back out on orders of the U.S. government. 

Despite Huawei's initial reaction to forge ahead with plans to find carrier partners in the U.S., the company might have changed its mind. Huawei has recently given pink slips to five members of its U.S. team, including lobbyist William B. Plummer who was with the company for eight years. Plummer's title was VP of external affairs, and his main job was to convince lawmakers in Washington that Huawei did not have ties to the Chinese government. But he was unsuccessful; yesterday, the FCC voted to continue with a rule that would prohibit federally subsidized telecom carriers from using suppliers that are considered threats to national security. And while Huawei wasn't mentioned by name, it is one of the companies that the U.S. government is wary of.

Although Huawei hasn't officially conceded anything regarding its future plans for the U.S., Huawei CEO Richard Yu stated last month that the company can still become the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, even without a strong presence in the states. With the recent layoffs, the company might have decided that it can't fight city hall. Or in this case, Capitol Hi

China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, viewed with suspicion in Congress as a potential threat to U.S. national security, has laid off five employees at its Washington office and slashed lobbying expenditures, according to sources familiar with the matter and government filings. Huawei, the world's third-largest smartphone maker, let go its vice president of external affairs Bill Plummer and four other people in the Washington office, sources said. The New York Times was first to report the shake-up.

The company also slashed lobbying expenditures to $60,000 in 2017 from $348,500 in 2016, according to Huawei filings. "Like every company, we continually evaluate our organisation and align our resources to support our business strategy and objectives," a Huawei spokesman said. "Any changes to staffing size or structure are simply a reflection of standard business optimization." The retrenchment comes amid a steady drip of bad news for the Chinese telecommunications company prompted by concerns by U.S. national security experts and China hawks who are loath to see equipment made by a Chinese firm installed in the U.S. telecommunications network.

In February, two Republican U.S. senators introduced legislation that would block the government from buying or leasing telecommunications equipment from Huawei or China's ZTE Corp, citing concerns that the companies might use their access to spy on U.S. officials. Such concerns have extended to handsets. In January, AT&T Inc was forced to scrap a plan to offer its customers Huawei handsets after some members of Congress lobbied against the idea with federal regulators.



The United States this week banned American firms from selling parts and software to ZTE for seven years. Washington accused ZTE of violating an agreement on punishing employees after the company illegally shipped U.S. goods to Iran. Despite being hampered in getting a foothold in the U.S. market, Shenzhen-based Huawei saw net profit rise to 47.5 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) in 2017, sharply up from a 0.4 percent increase in 2016. The rise was partly the result of an 85 percent drop in net financing expenses and partly due to higher revenue.