An attendee inspects a P20 Pro smartphone, manufactured by Huawei Technologies, during its unveiling in Paris, France, on Tuesday, March 21, 2018. Marlene Awaad | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is under arrest in Vancouver and may soon be extradited to the United States to face charges for violating U.S. sanctions that prevent Huawei from selling equipment to Iran. Huawei is a major global technology company, but it isn't as well known in the U.S. since most of its products aren't sold there. Here's a quick briefing on what you need to know.

What does Huawei do?

Shenzhen-based Huawei (pronounced: wah-way) is the world's second largest seller of phones behind Samsung, according to IDC. It's best known for making high-end phones with appealing designs and premium hardware features that rival devices from Samsung and Apple. While global consumers — especially those in China — may know the brand best for its consumer electronics, which also include laptops, tablets and TVs, Huawei's history is in providing telecommunications equipment. Put simply, Huawei also sells some of the hardware that lets your phone connect to wireless networks. It used to sell gear to U.S. wireless carriers, too, but that ended more than a decade ago. More on that next.

Spying concerns

Sanctions

Huawei and ZTE have been accused in recent years of continuing to ship products to Iran despite U.S. sanctions for its nuclear program. The alleged violations include shipments of phones or other equipment that contain chips made by U.S. companies. Qualcomm and Broadcom have provided parts to Huawei in the past, for example. The United States began digging deeper into Huawei's potential Iran sanctions violations in April, according to Reuters. And that's where we are now. Huawei's Meng was reportedly arrested on Saturday for ties to Huawei's role in potentially violating the sanctions. However, neither the United States nor Canada, where she was arrested, have yet to publicly disclose charges against her. "We have made solemn representations to Canada and the U.S., demanding that both parties immediately clarify the reasons for the detention, and immediately release the detainee to protect the person's legal rights," a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday, according to BBC.