Bidding
to extend its market reach outside China, Huawei chose London to unveil
its Ascend P6, which is just 6.18mm thick the June 18 launch date
reflecting the dimensions.
"Our theme for this
product is elegance with an edge," Richard Yu, the chief executive of
Huawei's consumer business group, told an audience of industry figures
and journalists at the Roundhouse.
The north
London venue is famous for small-scale concerts and has previously
hosted rock icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
Huawei
hopes the Ascend P6 will take on its competitors on style and
technology, but also on price it has a recommended retail price of 449
euros ($600).
The phone will be available in
19 countries by the end of July, including China, France, Germany and
Italy, with more than 100 others to follow.
"We want to provide better products, more innovative products with better design," said Yu.
"Our
competitors? For me, it's not in the same level as this product, the
(Samsung Galaxy) S4, (Apple) iPhone 5 and 6," he said.
However, he acknowledged: "We need time to build our brand and win the trust of consumers."
Nick Woodley, lead designer the firm's London design centre, said the phone was inspired by sheets of paper.
It
weighs 120gram, has a 4.7-inch (119.5mm) touchscreen and boasts two
cameras an 8MP camera on the back and a 5MP camera on the front.
Getting
rid of the regular slew of camera scene settings, it has auto scene
recognition and an automatic face enhancement tool which allows users to
boost their "beauty level" by factors of one to 10.
The unveiling of the phone in London was a stand-alone event, unlike previous launches at trade shows.
Starting
as a provider of telecom network equipment, Huawei has sought to make
inroads into mobile devices by selling smartphones under its own brand
over the past three years.
The company,
founded by a former engineer in the Chinese army, has also found
controversy abroad for its traditional line of business.
Huawei has a reputation for secrecy which the company has tried to shed after US claims it was a security threat.
The
US Congress last year warned network equipment supplied by Huawei could
be used for espionage and called for its exclusion government contracts
and acquisitions.
Huawei has denied those claims and accused the US government of protectionism.
The
British parliament's intelligence and security committee also recently
lambasted the government for failing to monitor the widespread use of
Chinese equipment in Britain's broadband and phone networks.
It
raised concerns about claims that Huawei has links to China's army and
government and so could be involved in spying on communications in
Britain.
In China's highly competitive
smartphone segment, Huawei held a 10.1 percent share in the first
quarter of this year, according to consultancy Analysys International.
This is higher than Apple's 6.4% but below the 17.3% held by market leader Samsung.
"The handset products Huawei launched before were relatively low-end and low-priced," said Wang Jun of Analysys International.
"The launch of this higher quality handset is related to Huawei's own strategy of product excellence."
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