Huawei’s device unit may have rolled out several Android-based handsets of late, but the company is not ruling out manufacturing Windows Phone-based devices.
CMO for Huawei Device in the South Pacific Region Alan Wong told reporters during the launch of the company’s Honor and Vision smartphones in Singapore that a Windows Phone-based Huawei device was a possibility, but declined further comment.
Wong’s comments add to speculation regarding the nature of the Chinese vendor’s relationship with Microsoft, after CMO of Huawei Device Victor Xu said last month that Microsoft had approached Huawei for Android patents.
The company’s growth efforts for now appear to be centered on the Android platform, with a focus on the attractive prices its telecommunications equipment business is known for. The Honor and Visionare priced at S$528 ($410) and S$438 respectively, which situates the devices at the mid-range price point. While both devices do not sport dual-core processors, specifications for the Honor appear competitive enough with the average high-end smartphone.
The 4-inch, Android 2.3 Gingerbread based Honor boasts a 1,900 mAh battery, which Huawei claims can last users up to three days. The device sports a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512 MB of RAM and an 8-megapixel camera. The Honor is also DLNA-certified, which facilitates content sharing between similarly certified devices.
Also on the charts for Honor customers is access to Huawei’s cloud-based storage service dubbed CloudDrive, scheduled to be available in Singapore in Q1 2012. The Honor will be available from 16 December in Singapore.
Wong added Huawei’s B2C smartphone ambitions are well on track, although the United States continues to be a tough market for its growth efforts. Internal estimates from Huawei put the company’s global Android market share at 9%.