Huawei will stop focusing on the U.S. following security setbacks

Huawei Logo
Huawei Logo (Image credit: Android Central)

After months of setbacks over security concerns from the U.S. government, Huawei has finally reached its breaking point. During a meeting in its home of Shenzhen, China, Huawei agreed that it'll be shifting its focus and resources to other markets outside of the States.

During the meeting, rotating CEO Eric Xu said –

It is beyond myself to clearly explain what is going on between the two countries.

Huawei's troubles began this January when its plans to launch the Mate 10 Pro on Verizon and AT&T were thwarted after the U.S. determined the company was a national security threat. AT&T was later urged to stop its commercial relationship with Huawei, and in February, the FBI, NSA, and CIA began telling American consumers to not buy Huawei phones.

Huawei's done fighting with the U.S. government and its mistrust of the company.

Best Buy then succumbed to the pressure in March by announcing it'd stop selling Huawei phones, tablets, smartwatches, laptops, and all Honor devices, and while Huawei's other CEO, Richard Yu, said the company would continue its efforts in the U.S., it looks like the company's finally had enough.

Along with Huawei, ZTE's also been faced with just as much pushback in the country. The Department of Commerce issued a seven-year ban on April 16 preventing ZTE from using any hardware or software that's exported from the U.S., and on April 18, it was reported that Alphabet was considering revoking ZTE's Android license.

This recent attack on China-based telecommunication companies has been in full force throughout most all of 2018, and it doesn't appear to be going away any time soon.

Whether you live in the U.S. or somewhere else in the world, what's your take on this?

Why does the U.S. government mistrust Huawei and not ZTE or Lenovo?

Joe Maring

Joe Maring was a Senior Editor for Android Central between 2017 and 2021. You can reach him on Twitter at @JoeMaring1.

59 Comments
  • No great surprise tbh. Even if they did allow sales in the US again, enough mud has been flung and stuck to tarnish their name for many potential customers. At the time of the P20 Pro live event many tech reporters were saying Huawei had said they'd be doubling down on European sales instead to cover some of what they had forecast for in the US before the carrier deals went pear shaped. Seeing as Huawei have come this far with next to no US sales, they'll do just fine and they'll make a bigger dent to Samsung and Apple's marketshare in Europe anyway.
  • Hey Joe... Is there any word on the Mediapad M5? Is it still coming to the US?
  • That's what I'm waiting on. This is bullshit if they don't release here in the states!
  • USA USA!!!
  • Yes, because there are SO MANY US built phones out there. ha ha ha...facepalm.
  • I think he was being sarcastic tbf
  • I know he was.
  • Do you?
  • It does make sense. The U.S. isn't the only market for Huawei fortunately. This is a bummer because they do make great products.
  • Yeah with copied and especially stolen technologies in their networking equipment from Cisco Systems. That's the only reason why they were able to catch up so quickly and compete. And of course price it more cheaply
  • I still don't see you complaining about Apple doing much the same?
  • Except that your statement is untrue. There was a case - one case - in 2003, involving a minor bit of code that was already in the wild, and the companies settled. The fallacy that you purport is just more nonsense that Cisco and the USG keep pumping to prevent competition from better technology.
  • It’s not just the US. Other European countries are considering doing the same.
  • Just sell them on Amazon or from your online store. Americans will never buy your devices from carrier stores, you're wasting your time. The only people that will buy them are tech enthusiasts. This is a blessing in disguise. Americans will only buy iPhones, Galaxies, and Pixels (as soon as Pixel are available on all carriers)
  • I would've absolutely bought the P20 Pro if it was in T-Mobile. I believe at least a few thousand more would have as well.
  • Yeah, you would. You're here on AC geeking out with us. I'm talking about regular people
  • LOL, you don't understand the pain of porting the number yourself is then. This is the reason why 90% of phones are sold at carrier stores in the US.
  • What pain? It takes 10 minutes
  • No port needed when you aren't changing carriers, like over 95% of people upgrading phones. It's just a SIM swap on any GSM carrier, jeez.
  • That too.. And I bet Huawei are all gsm
  • shame on the USA government.. their loss
  • So much for consumer choice in the US. This sucks. I won't be importing any phone, no matter how great it is. Here is to hoping that Huawei and ZTE won't show up at American trade shows like CES anymore. I don't want to see something at CES that I can't buy without importing.
  • Huawei could be a threat to national security and a good reason for the government to be concerned. The problem is the government isn't telling us what ways they wanted Huawei to address the threats and how they fell short of doing so. I'm coming to the conclusions that it's more of what the lobbying efforts of the Apples and Samsungs of our economy's doing more so than the perceived threat. Huawei makes good phones that are half the cost of the others guys and so they are bad for the other guys bottom line. I might be wrong here but I don't know of any phones made is the US or if the Huawei phones uses other software besides Android. So the phones can be monitored for unauthorized activities if that's the case. Heck, Facebook is on our phones collecting all kinds of data and selling them to the highest buyer but they are OK.
    Huawei just continue selling your phones unlocked on Amazon and Ebay for those of us that want your products. My Pixel XL is the last phone I'll best above $500.
  • Pretty decent points-However, Im not convinced that a National Security threat is as real as the Government says. I just picked up a mate 10 pro, and its an excellent phone. Even EMUI isn't as bad as some say IMO. I think its Qualcomm strong arming along with Apple and Samsung. Being Huawei uses and manufactures their own chips, they are not welcome in the US. Samsung doesn't even get to put their own chips in their own phones in the US!
  • It would've been easier for huawei to do what Samsung does, put snapdragons in for the US market. Just use their implementation of AI , if the US is worried about the NPU.
  • The US and its Government are super paranoid, well, in fact... they are bullies. If they have a problem with products from China, why aren't they also banning every chip made from China on every laptop the US has, why do they specifically target Huawei? Well they can ban the brand in the US but we happy with Huawei Globally, and business is booming for the brand in Africa, they can keep their expensive iPhones.
  • Yes unfounded, no proof paranoia has gripped our nation. They can prove that ZTE did something, but not Huawei. Until I see documented, factual proof, I will still buy Huawei phones.
  • Truth be told, I always thought Huawei was better selling its devices direct to consumers at a highly competitive price and put more money behind its marketing.
    I would even go as far as having its own retail presence in some US airports & malls where there's high traffic and end users can get hands on use. I spent a very long time in the wireless industry interacting with the retail side of the carrier business and from what I saw first hand, I doubt the sales reps would push a Huawei product as well or as much as they do brands like Samsung.
    The carrier sales reps were only keen to sell either an iOS device or a Samsung android phone, these were easy sales for them, plus those two brands had built a loyal customer base.
    I'm of the opinion, that the average US wireless consumer that was willing to drop several hundred dollars for an android device would likely lean towards a Samsung before considering buying a Huawei branded device if the prices were about the same.
    Being someone that's personally used a couple of Huawei devices, I find their hardware to be sold, their UI software experience on the other hand is whole different story.
    I'm sure Samsung CEO is breathing some sigh of relief.
  • The US just keeps showing its true colors.
  • And what might those colors be?
  • Fascist?
  • You know, all I see you type is the bashing of America. You don’t live here. You contribute nothing meaningful to our economy personally. You don’t pay our taxes. So therefore you really have no clue. You’re entitled to your opinion and that’s what makes the USA great.
  • He's not bashing America. He's bashing the current administration.
  • As many people "in America" also do.
  • Around the world
  • I'll bash America, and I'm American. If your wrong, you're wrong, no matter where you live. I don't like the paranoia that's gripping our country, and banning without factual proof, is a form of it.
  • Funtip: National intelligence can be classified. At no time are any of these organizations mandated to share intel on Huawei to shitposters on Android Central. How can this concept be so obtuse to you?
  • ^^^^ This exactly. Look at BLU. Sending personal info back to China. Who's to say Huawei isn't doing it also? There is a reason why some Govt. agencies are required to purchase networking equipment assembled in the US.
  • Trying to be nationalist backwards thinking?
  • as opposed to globalist socialist?
  • I feel very fortunate to be in the UK, I got the P20 Pro on release day through my current carrier and it is quite simply the best phone I've ever had. The camera led me to sell my compact camera finally and the battery life is insane. I would have been bitterly disappointed if they hadn't made it here.
    I can understand concern when it comes to government devices and networking equipment on a larger scale, but I don't really have any concern about the Chinese government wanting to spy on me as an individual.
  • Will current devices still in the US market still be sold? I've been eyeing the Mate SE but lack funds for it.
  • Tinfoil hat wearers win! good job!
  • Thanks! We aim to please!
  • "Steve Adams" has more intel than several government agencies with practically unlimited resources. You literally are advertising that concept. How up your own ass can you possibly be?
  • Neither can I trust the Chinese entirely🙉 But now it's time for China's consumer base to prioritise Huawei over apple products.
    And the US security agencies shouldn't be fooled that China isn't watching 😎 Let the US first exhaust all the pressure it can exert, STAY TUNED.....
  • US consumer's loss is Europe's gain. Had my p20 pro for two weeks now (replacing an S8) and I'm very happy plus the deals we are getting are clearly influenced by lack of US sales. Over 24 payments I'm paying £440 for my pro and that includes a pair of qc35ii 'phones. Bargain..
  • US is already a duopoly with Apple and Samsung and let it remain so. Consumers are at a loss. All this security concerns are made up to keep those lobbies happy. The rest of the world will enjoy the best that tech has to offer while US lives on in it's bubble
  • I agree that the US telecommunication market as a whole is rather pathetic regardless of the phones one can buy here. This move didn't help for sure.
  • America is pretty dumb on a whole. We aren't the best country by far.
  • Why stay then?
  • Yup if he left he would have realized what dumb is.
  • It's not fair to us as customers. I may not live in USA but I don't like it. I really hope that they don't do that here in South Africa. I love Huawei products as well as Xiaomi.
  • Well, I really know how to pick winners for SmartPhones.
    I started with BlackBerry when they were king.... got left behind quickly.
    I moved onto Windows Phone 8/10 backed by the world's largest software company... got orphaned...
    Now I moved onto Android and purchased phones by one of the largest phone hardware manufacturers in the world... only to have them not supporting their phones in north america. Awesome.. I've had my 3 Huawei Mate 10 Lites for a total of about 4 weeks now... LOL... Maybe I should just stop resisting and become a Apple/Samsung convert....
  • They all do the same **** anyway. The fan base break down is as follows: Apple fans often will only consider Apple and will give no merit to things other platforms do better. Android fans are often closet hipsters who follow a trend every 2 or 3 years where they move to another brand because their brand got to mainstream. Example
    >muh iphone is too mainstream
    >i love muh droid
    >muh droid is too mainstream
    >i love muh galaxy s2
    >muh samsung software/too many people are getting samsung devices
    >muh pixel le ebin underground google phone
    >muh benevolent chinese overlord phones (huawei, zte) Its very contrarian IMO.
  • It’s like people loving a musician until he gets famous and too mainstream for the so called purists
  • I think you misunderstood my posts.
    I didn't move on from platforms because I tired of them... I moved on because they died or got abandoned....
    I'm just hoping the same doesn't happen to my Huawei phones here in USA/Mexico....
  • May as well add all the Chinese made TV's, tablets, and appliances too.
  • China retaliation can be hard! What if they ban use of US software and hardware ?!