In what would be considered a huge blow, Best Buy is reportedly dropping Huawei products from its stores across the US. If true, the chain will remove all Huawei phones, smartwatches, and laptops from their inventory. Despite the news, neither company has made an official statement regarding the matter. Both companies cited their wishes in not discussing the matter. As a Best Buy spokesperson told c|net:
“We don’t comment on specific contracts with vendors, and we make decisions to change what we sell for a variety of reasons,” she said.
A spokesperson for Huawei echoed that sentiment, although, did go further in saying that Best Buy was a valued partner. Even so, the move certainly lands a devastating blow against the company. Currently, Huawei sits third in the world in consumer electronics, just behind Apple and Samsung.
The company was also set to announce a new partnership with AT&T at CES this year, but the carrier backed out amidst political pressure. Verizon Wireless followed in the same footsteps days later, as the company changed its mind in carrying the devices.
Without carrier support, Best Buy was the best place to find the Chinese company’s devices. The company — along with another Chinese technology manufacturer, ZTE — were cited in a report by the House Intelligence Committee. The report questioned possible security concerns regarding both Huawei and ZTE.
Besides that report, directors of the three intelligence agencies (the FBI, NSA, and CIA) all echoed security concerns regarding both Chinese manufacturers in early January. As a result, Huawei released its own statement in regards to said accusations.
“Our products and solutions are used by major carriers, Fortune 500 companies and hundreds of millions of consumers in more than 170 countries around the world,” a Huawei spokesman said. “We have earned the trust of our partners across the global value chain.”
Even with that, Best Buy’s move to stop selling Huawei’s equipment would be devastating for the company trying to establish a technological foothold within the states.
According to MobileSyrup, Best Buy Canada is following suit and will stop selling Huawei devices as well. However, this isn’t as big a blow to the company in Canada as they do sell their devices through carriers, unlike the recent U.S. roadblocks.
“Canada is a very different market than the United States,” said a [Huawei] spokesperson in a statement to MobileSyrup. “We sell our devices to Canadian operators, not directly to independent retailers.”
Have you heard of Huawei? Would security concerns about the company make you choose a different device? Let us know what you think by telling us in the comment section below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
[button link=”https://www.cnet.com/news/huawei-dealt-blow-loses-best-buy-as-smartphone-laptop-smartwatch-retailer/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: c|net[/button]
Comments are closed.