REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
- Huawei is promising to create a $600 5G smartphone.
- This is roughly half the price of its competitors; Samsung’s 5G phone is expected to cost around $1,200, for example.
- Huawei has been blocked by several governments around the world, including the US, Canada, and Australia, over security concerns.
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Chinese telecoms giant Huawei plans to sell 5G smartphones at half the price of its competitors.
In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, Peter Zhou, chief marketing officer of wireless marketing at the company, said that Huawei plans to bring 5G phones to market for $600 this year. Zhou said he is expecting this price to drop further in 2020.
"Next year, some people say we may see [5G] smartphones at $300 and I think that’s very much possible," he said.
This price point will enable Huawei to undercut its rivals, whose own versions of the 5G phone are rumored to cost double that price. Samsung’s Galaxy s10 5G, for example, is expected to cost over $1,200. Apple has not yet announced when its own version of the 5G phone will launch or what its price will be. It is expected to hit the market sometime between 2020 and 2021.
Last year, Huawei overtook Apple to become the second-biggest smartphone maker in the world and is now prepping itself for global domination.
The company has achieved this success despite being locked out of several key markets, including the US, Canada, and Australia, because of government security concerns.
Read more: Here’s why the US is terrified of one Chinese company controlling the world’s 5G networks
The US has banned the use of Huawei products and services at its federal agencies, believing that the company’s technology could become a backdoor for the Chinese government to spy on the country.
In response, Huawei sued the US government in February.
"The US Congress has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions on Huawei products. We are compelled to take this legal action as a proper and last resort," Huawei Rotating Chairman Guo Ping said at the time.
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See Also:
- Why Wall Street is worried that Apple is getting left behind in the 5G arms race
- T-Mobile is launching its TV service this weekend — here’s how 5G will unlock its true value
- Samsung’s first 5G smartphone finally has a release date in the US
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Mary Hanbury)