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Huawei’s P9 Smartphone to Challenge Apple and Samsung
The P9 smartphone features a dual-lens camera developed in partnership with Leica
Huawei debuted its new P9 smartphone in London on Wednesday. The phone has two cameras, which gives sharper images and allows users to change the point of focus after an image has been taken, according to Huawei.
By STU WOO
Updated April 6, 2016 2:38 p.m. ET
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LONDON—Huawei Technologies Co. released its latest smartphone on Wednesday, as the Chinese tech firm mounts its most serious foray yet into the high-end device market long dominated by Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
When unveiling the P9 smartphone in London, Huawei made it clear that the product was designed to directly challenge Apple and Samsung. As Huawei executive Richard Yu spoke at the event, the screen behind him showed how the P9 compared—favorably—with Apple’s iPhone 6s and Samsung’s Galaxy S7 on a number of specifications.
“We are slimmer than an iPhone 6s and slimmer than S7,” Mr. Yu said. The P9 has a 5.2-inch screen, which is bigger than the 4.7-inch screen of the iPhone 6s. While touting the phone’s high-end features—including a novel dual-lens camera developed in partnership with high-end German camera producer Leica Camera AG—Huawei priced the P9 below the marquee smartphones of its better-known competitors.
The basic model of the P9 has 32 gigabytes of storage and costs 599 euro ($683). In the U.K., Apple sells its cheapest iPhone 6s, with 16 gigabytes, for $759, and Samsung sells its simplest version of the S7, with 32 gigabytes, for $801.
The phone will be available beginning April 16 in at least 29 countries, including China, several European markets and the Middle East. The company will also sell a version of the P9 with a bigger screen, called the P9 Plus.
Huawei has no plans to introduce the smartphones in the U.S.
Huawei is the world’s third-biggest smartphone maker, with its 8.1% of the global smartphone market share in the fourth quarter trailing Samsung’s 21% and Apple’s 19%, according to research firm IDC.
China's Huawei, the world's third-biggest smartphone maker, is moving upmarket with its new flagship phone. Photo: Reuters
The Chinese company has scrapped its previous strategy of supplying cheap, unbranded phones to carriers and, as Wednesday’s introduction of the P9 phone indicated, is pushing to portray itself as a maker of premium products.
Huawei and Leica, in a rollout event in London, said their collaboration produced a dual-lens camera unseen in any previous smartphone. On the top edge of the device, just left of the word “Leica” imprinted on the phone, sit two small lenses, side by side.
Mr. Yu said the two lenses allow the phone to take images with better depth, details and color. He said it can capture 270% more light than Apple’s iPhone 6s and 90% more light than Samsung’s Galaxy S7.
Huawei’s stated strategy is to sell the P9, its flagship smartphone, at a slightly lower price than its competitors to grab more market share. “In terms of brand awareness, we’re quite behind Apple and Samsung,” Glory Zhang, chief marketing officer for Huawei’s consumer business group, said.
Ms. Zhang said her company can afford to do so because unlike publicly traded Apple and Samsung, Huawei is closely held and isn't under shareholder pressure to generate immediate profits.
“We are pursuing reasonable profit: not too high, not too low,” she said.
Huawei is the market leader in China, but it faces tough challenges elsewhere. It chose to introduce the P9 in London, a market where mobile carriers’ subsidies have typically made Apple and Samsung phones more affordable, reducing Huawei’s price advantage.
The company’s brand image might be a potential liability in the U.S., where its networking equipment business has effectively been banned since 2012 over Congress’s concerns that the Chinese firm’s products could be used by Beijing to spy on Americans. Huawei has repeatedly denied such allegations.
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