The world's No. 3 smartphone vendor

Huawei isn't the household name in North America or even Europe that it might be in Asia, but its successes in certain parts of the globe has seen it rise to be the world's number three smartphone vendor. Only Apple and Samsung have more market share than Huawei. Hailing from China, some of the success in smartphones can be accredited to its native market.

In recent times Huawei's Android phones have become much more compelling. Design and build quality are at present among the best that Android has to offer with 2014's Ascend P7 and Ascend Mate 7. There still remains a healthy batch of entry level devices for the more budget conscious, but even the mid-range devices like the Ascend G7 are starting to see some elements of more 'premium' devices creeping in.

EMUI

Huawei does its own thing with software on its phones. Known until late 2014 as Emotion UI, EMUI has now reached version 3.0. It's a stark contrast to Android as Google intended with a complete visual reworking. The latest version will launch alongside the Ascend Mate 7 initially.

Future plans for Huawei are already known to include the creation of its own Android Wear smartwatch, tipped to launch sometime in 2015.