At the end, he acknowledged the lack of a carrier was a hit to the company , which would sell its smartphone through retail partners like Amazon and Best Buy. On Tuesday, Huawei unveiled the P20 smartphone and the higher-end P20 Pro , which both pack an insane amount of camera technology. The company, however, confirmed that the P20 wouldn't be heading to the US, despite holding briefings with the press here.
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The result: Americans will miss out on the chance to buy some of the flashiest new Android smartphones , including one that packs an intriguing Leica triple camera. Huawei pronounced wah-way got its start selling cheap Android smartphones in China, but has since expanded throughout the world with high-end offerings.
It's among the world's largest telecommunications companies, building network infrastructure gear, mobile processors and, yes, smartphones. It's the third-largest smartphone vendor behind Samsung and Apple , according to Gartner.
Where's the proof?
One of its newest smartphones, the Mate 10 Pro , is smart enough to drive a Porsche for a little while. It's all about national security. The US government has expressed concern that Huawei might be spying on us through its products, specifically its telecommunications equipment. In , a House Intelligence Committee report detailed concerns that both Huawei and ZTE, a fellow Chinese vendor, pose a threat to national security. US companies were banned from buying Huawei equipment.
On Monday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai proposed new rules that would bar broadband companies from using a government subsidy program to buy telecom equipment from companies that pose a national security threat. Though the FCC didn't name any companies or countries, Pai had previously written a letter to lawmakers sharing his concerns about espionage threats from Huawei. They also warned against buying the companies' phones, which added a new wrinkle to the story.
The source of much of the trepidation comes from Huawei founder and Chairman Ren Zhengfei, who was formerly with the Chinese military. That's incredibly hard to say with any certainty, which is the core dilemma that Huawei faces.
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The rest of the world doesn't seem to have a problem with the company. The only exception is Australia, which previously barred Huawei products, but ultimately revoked its ban. Still, the government blocked the company from working on its national broadband network.
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Huawei boasts relationships with major carriers, corporations and consumers in more than countries. In February that year, the heads of three US intelligence agencies advised against using Huawei devices. The suspicion of Huawei has spread beyond the US, too. In July , the British government produced a report criticizing the security protocols of Huawei phones.
Australia has banned Huawei and fellow Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE from supplying technology for its 5G network. How did we end up here? How did one of the biggest smartphone companies in the world become entangled in such a geopolitical mess? And is Huawei a genuine security threat? Huawei was founded in by Ren Zhengfei, the son of two school teachers from south eastern China. During his service, Ren was even prevented from joining the Communist Party.
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Ren was further rewarded for his performance by being invited to the Communist Party's National Congress in — theoretically the highest body within the Communist Party and a pivotal part of Communist Party pageantry. Ren was discharged from the military in It began small, functioning as a sales agent for landline phone exchange switches. Its growth was remarkable. In , Huawei shipped its first phone, the C Unsurprisingly, Huawei denied all links to the military in a lengthy statement it gave to the Wall Street Journal following its abortive acquisition of US server company 3Leaf, back in It is a matter of fact that Mr.
Ren is just one of the many CEOs around the world who have served in the military, and it is also a matter of fact that Huawei has only offered telecommunications equipment that is in line with civil standards.
It is also factual to say that no one has ever offered any evidence that Huawei has been involved in any military technologies at any time. As of January, , Huawei remained active in the funding program. In particular, it is helping develop 5G networks with military applications in mind. With worries over cyberwar and digital snooping, just how possible is a Chinese cyber-attack enacted through consumer tech devices?
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Timothy Heath believes it is entirely plausible:. The Chinese state has the authority to demand tech companies like Huawei turn over useful information or provide access to the communications and technologies owned and sold by Huawei. Chinese authorities can use this information and access to facilitate espionage or cyber attacks over Huawei communications technologies.
Consumer tech devices like phones that rely on Huawei technologies will be easier for Chinese authorities to penetrate and exploit for these reasons. While US, UK and Australian governments block Huawei technology from official use, none of them have yet pointed towards a line of code or piece of hardware that shows genuine evidence of Chinese state snooping.
But still, the concern remains that the Chinese government is intimately involved in the running of Huawei. Huawei employees during their morning exercises whilst on hardware training at Songshan Lake, Dongguan. According to a Huawei spokesperson speaking to Australian IT News , no government entity holds any of the shares. Indeed, Chinese law requires that committees from the Communist Party exist within all Chinese businesses.
According to the US Select Committee on Intelligence, these committees are the vehicles for the Party to exert influence and pressure on companies and monitor their performance. As a rule, they have less independence from the state, simply because, in China, everything is connected to the state. In return, the Party keeps a close eye on companies to ensure they are pulling their weight and meeting their growth targets. With Huawei, this relationship goes even further.
In return, the government gives these companies easier access to financing and preference in government contract bidding. Magnus also notes that the Chinese government directly sets these companies goals that need to be fulfilled. Here, too, tech companies have a part to play. Credit: Studio Incendo.