huawei

HUAWEI MATE 10 PRO REVIEW.

We're less than two months into 2018, and so far, the year hasn't been very good for Huawei.

The Chinese company had hoped that this would be the year it could finally enter the U.S. market and compete with Apple and Samsung.

But days before it was due to make its big partnership announcement with AT&T, the agreement fell apartdue to pressure from the U.S. government.

It is rumored that a deal with Verizon that was scheduled for later in the year collapsed for similar reasons .

Then, last week, the heads of the FBI, CIA, and NSA told a Senate Intelligence Committee that U.S. citizens should not use Huawei's products or services. due to alleged links with the Chinese government.

The phone that Huawei hoped would bring it to the U.S. market is its flagship Mate 10 Pro launched in other parts of the world last fall.

 Mate 10 Pro has been the focus of all of Huawei's marketing efforts in Western markets, from influencer partnerships to billboards and ad placements on popular websites (including The Verge, in the which our editorial team has not been involved).

Although Huawei lost its carrier partnerships and clearly has no following in the US government, it began selling the unlocked Mate 10 Pro in the US.

This week, and can now be purchased for $ 799 at Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers. .

The Mate 10 Pro is a flagship phone with flagship specs and flagship prices. But there are plenty of flagship phones with flagship specs and flagship prices here in the US,

Which means the Mate 10 Pro is playing in an intensely competitive field. Without a major carrier partner and its massive marketing budget and retail space, the Mate 10 Pro is unlikely to be a popular phone in the U.S.

But it made me wonder: now that Americans can buy it, is the Mate 10 Pro a phone that anyone should buy, regardless of what the government says? Even if Huawei had been able to get it on AT&T or Verizon or any other U.S. carrier, would anyone have bought it.