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posted by mrpg on Saturday March 31 2018, @09:26AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-can't-hear-you-now dept.

Huawei's consumer business group CEO Richard Yu is not giving up on selling smartphones and other devices in the U.S., despite warnings against the company made by U.S. government officials and a lack of support from retailers. The company recently released a new flagship smartphone, the Huawei P20 Pro:

"We are committed to the US market and to earning the trust of US consumers by staying focused on delivering world-class products and innovation," Yu told CNET in an email. "We would never compromise that trust."

The comments mark a defiant response to the vague warnings made by US officials that have effectively crippled Huawei's ability to get its phones in front of consumers. In January, AT&T pulled out of a landmark plan to sell the Mate 10 Pro, an important high-end Huawei phone. Verizon reportedly also scuttled a deal to carry the device based on political pressure. CNET was also first to report that Best Buy, the US' largest electronics retailer, dropped Huawei phones from its roster.

[...] "The security risk concerns are based on groundless suspicions and are quite frankly unfair," Yu said. "We welcome an open and transparent discussion if it is based on facts." [...] "We work with 46 of the 50 global operators," Yu told CNET, "And have maintained a very strong security record because security is one of our top priorities." [...] "Even without the United States market, we'll be No. 1 in the world," Yu said earlier this week.

Huawei reported a 27% jump in profits in 2017, despite its struggle to establish itself in the U.S. market.

See also: Huawei P20 launch highlights the risks of U.S. paranoia over Chinese security
Huawei's P20 Pro is a hugely promising phone that will upset Americans

Previously: U.S. Lawmakers Urge AT&T to Cut Ties With Huawei
Verizon Cancels Plans to Sell Huawei Phone Due to U.S. Government Pressure
The U.S. Intelligence Community's Demonization of Huawei Remains Highly Hypocritical


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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday March 31 2018, @09:18PM

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday March 31 2018, @09:18PM (#660946) Journal

    If you're not living in China nor trying to overthrow the Chinese Gov, your phone sending data to China isn't going to be a huge problem

    That's a pretty naive assertion, especially in light of the Facebook Cambridge Analytica fiasco currently raging in the press.
    Imagine handing a foreign power all the data on your phone, all your contacts, text messages, pictures, links you've followed, all siphoned off your phone onto any wifi when you thought your phone was sleeping. Do you really believe only big-data companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon would be able to data mine this level of stuff?

    OTOH, maybe the real reason is something like:

    If you won't put US spyware and backdoors in your phone, good luck selling them in the US.

    (If this is the issue, why doesn't Huawei come out and say exactly that?)

    Of course, it is also possible the US is not worried about data being sent to China, but what China could decide to send to the US. Viruses, ping floods, cell-network take-downs, what ever. Everyone knows that your cell phone goes dead in any real national emergency, but 90% (number pulled from ass) of those phones jump to wifi as soon as that happens. An even more powerful platform for an insider attack.

    You have to ask yourself Why would the US be worried about only a couple companies in China, and not all the others that manufacture in China.

    Is is political gamesmanship, or is there actual intelligence of a threat? If so, why hasn't the US documented it? Its not THAT hard to monitor connections originating or terminating on a phone if you control the upstream.

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