The most dissapointing news that struck media and consumers at CES 2018 was the fact AT&T called off its deal with Huawei. The US carrier was expected to be first to sell a Huawei smartphone in the US, but we later found out why the carrier passed on Huawei’s expansion plan. According to the latest report, Verizon will follow AT&T’s lead and not offer a Huawei smartphone either.

US carriers aren’t playing nice with Huawei, who is on the border of second and third in global smartphone market share. The company based in China has high hopes for 2018, though its initial effort to expand to the US seems to have failed miserably, as neither AT&T or Verizon has agreed to carry Mate 10 Pro or any other Huawei model.

Huawei still plans to sell in the US via retailers, but carriers would contribute some much needed help had they partnered with the company. We have reason to believe the reason for this is something to do with the fact Huawei has minimal influence in xthe US territory, which is dominated by the likes of iPhone and Galaxy. Huawei has undoubtedly proved itself abroad, but will have to spread more awareness of their brand before carriers commit to selling phones in one of the world’s largest smartphone markets. The cherry on top that caused Verizon to drop its plans with Huawei was pressure from the US government, who is concerned about Chinese spying. Especially, now that 5G networks are coming along, which will be used for everything and anything.

The unlocked variants of certain Huawei phones have remained available in the US. Huawei fans won’t be happy with the news, but at least there’s still one route to take if your appreciate Huawei’s work.

SOURCE [Bloomberg]