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CES 2018: Huawei CEO Responds to AT&T Backing Out of Mate 10 Deal, Announces Online Availability

Huawei was on the verge a major deal that would bring their first flagship phone to a major US carrier. The deal is off at the very last moment, but the phone will still be available via online retailers.

Charles Singletary Jr

January 10, 2018 9:45 AM

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CES is typically the home of major announcements and a glimpse into the future of technology, but sad news can occasionally spring up. The source of a bit of bad news this time around comes from Chinese giant Huawei, who spoke on the failure to ink a deal with AT&T for US distribution of the Mate10 Pro. The company is taking the move in stride, though, and will be making the phone available on Best Buy, Amazon, and other online retailers.

Huawei is one of the top phone manufacturers in the world, but has yet to set a firm foot in the US market. The deal with AT&T was shuttered virtually at the last moment, as reported by CNET, and Huawei CEO of consumer business Richard Yu spoke on it during his CES keynote.

"Yu finally addressed the issue at the end of the keynote, admitting that the loss of US carrier support hurt Huawei. But he stressed that it was a bigger blow to consumers who lose out on a strong option for a smartphone."

There seems to be a great deal of politics at play here and, rumors say, Verizon may be stepping away from Huawei phones as well. Whatever the result of these things, Huawei is hard at work attempting to penetrate the US market. The company has hired Gal Gadot of Wonder Woman fame and is also trying to work their pseudo-independent Honor brand into US stores as well.

The Mate10 Pro will be priced at $799 for the unlocked device and a Porche Design version will also be available in the US. The standard version has a six-inch 18:9 OLED screen, Kirin 970 processor, Android Oreo, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and dual cameras. The Porsche edition will cost $1225 and has 256GB of storage. Both will start to ship February 18.

Charles Singletary Jr

News Editor

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.