Huawei has been trying very hard over the years to break into the U.S. smartphone market and while just a few months ago it seemed that the company could finally win carrier support for its devices, two of the country’s largest mobile carriers decided to not carry Huawei smartphones due to claims about security issues by U.S. government departments. Huawei has time and again refuted reports about its links to the Chinese government and has reiterated its promise to user privacy. However, it appears that the company may have finally decided to give up on the smartphone market of the U.S.
Despite having little official presence in the country’s smartphone market, Huawei remains the third top smartphone vendor in the world after Samsung and Apple. It certainly has the potential to close that gap if it was possible for the company to sell its smartphones through carriers in one of the most lucrative smartphone markets on the planet.
The New York Times cites a source close to the matter who says that Huawei has laid off five American employees one of which is Willam B. Plummer. He was the vice president of external affairs at Huawei. Having served the company for eight years, Plummer was the only non-Chinese citizen who was the most senior member of its American Policy team.
He used to lobby on behalf of Huawei but his efforts haven’t really borne fruit so far. It’s not been revealed if Huawei is going to hire a replacement for Plummer or if it has decided to start pursuing growth opportunities in markets other than the United States.
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