Huawei Mate 10 to Enter the US in February with $100M Ad Budget

Chinese mobile phone giant Huawei plans to enter the US market in 2018, The Information reported on December 28. It will launch a flagship smartphone in collaboration with the US carrier AT&T. It will be the first time a US carrier has launched a high-end smartphone for Huawei.

The Information reported that Huawei’s latest flagship, the Mate 10, will be available on AT&T’s network in February. Huawei plans to spend $100 million next year on advertising in the US. Richard Yu, Huawei consumer business CEO, confirmed earlier in December that Huawei would sell smartphones through US carriers in 2018. “Next year, we will sell our flagship phones in the US market through carriers,” Yu said.

Bloomberg reported this month that Huawei negotiated with Verizon to sell its phones. The report also noted that Xiaomi was in talks with AT&T and Verizon on handset selling agreements. In recent quarters, Xiaomi has been ranking between the world’s fifth-largest and the sixth-largest handset makers.

Success in the US smartphone market will help grow Huawei’s overall smartphone shipments. Huawei is expected to overtake Apple as the world’s second-largest smartphone maker. It temporarily surpassed Apple to become second place earlier this year.