Huawei Partners With Local Retailers to Sell Flagship Smartphones in Brazil

By Reuters

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd on Tuesday launched two high-end smartphone handsets in Brazil, making its second attempt to penetrate the world’s fourth-largest smartphone market, broadening its footprint in Latin America.

“We are in a very different market share position than we were five years ago and we’re seeing tremendous brand momentum,” Ketrina Dunagan, Huawei’s vice president of marketing for the Americas, said in an interview on the sidelines of the launch event in São Paulo.

Both devices, the P30 Pro and P30 Lite, will be available through eight online and brick-and-mortar channels as of May 17, she said, adding suggested prices are R$2,499 (US$638) and R$5,499 (US$1,403), respectively.

Local retailers Magazine Luiza, Via Varejo, B2W, Fast Shop, and wireless carrier Telefonica Brasil will be among those selling the phones, according to Dunagan.

Smartphone sales in Brazil are expected to fall 4.3 percent to 42.5 million units this year, according to research firm IDC Brasil, after a 6.8 percent drop in 2018.

But Huawei is betting these new models can lure increasingly sophisticated buyers, potentially challenging Samsung Electronics Co and Lenovo Group’s Motorola brand, which currently dominate the local smartphone market.

“Brazil is very unique and a huge market for smartphones … Although the overall market size is not growing, the premium segment over R$3,000 is growing,” Huawei said.