After Nexus 6P success, Huawei misses chance at Pixel, flounders in U.S.

Huawei has been struggling for several years now to get a foothold in the U.S. market and with the success of the Nexus 6P, which Huawei manufactured for Google, many thought the company may have finally turned the corner. A new report out suggests the company was even in the pipeline to be the producer for this year's new Pixel smartphones. However, a bit of a falling out with Google which followed several disappointments related to the Nexus program put Huawei out in the cold and gave HTC the chance to move in.

Sources indicate the primary disagreement that arose between Google and Huawei over Google's 2016 devices, slated to be announced tomorrow as the Pixel and Pixel XL, had to do with branding. Specifically, Google mandated that whatever manufacturer produced the new devices would not be allowed to include their own logos on the devices or partake in any advertising for the devices. Allegedly this rankled Huawei CEO Richard Yu so badly that he ended negotiations immediately, forcing Google to go with “plan B.”

The restriction on branding and advertising may have only been the final straw though. Supposedly the deal for Huawei to produce the Nexus 6P was originally much larger and more extensive than what the companies ended up with. Google had plans to get the new Nexus devices, including the Nexus 6P, sold by the major U.S. carriers, notably Verizon. Huawei was of course very interested in this as it would be a nice step into the U.S. market they have been struggling to break into. Unfortunately, talks with the carriers broke down and the Nexus 6P ended up being sold primarily through the Google Store and Project Fi, although after a while some other retailers like Best Buy and Amazon were able to carry it as well.

On top of the frustrations with the Google Nexus program, Huawei has continued to struggle in other efforts to break into the U.S. market despite the positive reviews the Nexus 6P brought to the company. The Huawei GX8 and Honor 8 have performed quite poorly with Huawei even dismissing the majority of their U.S. team according to reports. For some reason, Huawei continues to resist selling devices in the U.S. that may bring it some acclaim, like the P9 or the Mate 8 although they did have some mild success with the mid-tier Honor 5X. Signs are not looking good for the Mate 9 to make it to the U.S. market either.

Even with these struggles and frustrations, it does appear that Google and Huawei still maintain a positive relationship. So much so that Google and Huawei may be working on a deal for a 2017 mid-range phone, although it is unclear whether it would be part of the new Pixel line-up whenever it gets to market.

source: Android Police