Huawei continues US push, sets up R&D in Silicon Valley
updated 07:25 am EST, Tue February 14, 2012
Huawei eyes bigger slice of US mobile market
Chinese smartphone giant Huawei has continued its push for an increased presence in the US. Currently best known as a relative new comer that has targeted the bottom to middle tier of the Android market, the company has shown it has aspirational tendencies with new high-end devices planned for North American release. The latest sign is news that it is planning on moving its R&D to Silicon Valley, staffed by up to 600 employees.
In 2011, Huawei spent $3.76 billion globally on its research and development operations. The fruits of these development efforts has resulted in the Ascend P1 S, which Electronista had the opportunity to try out at CES 2012. The device is one of the first phones to sport Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and runs in at just 6.7mm (0.26-inches) thin. It is also powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display with a 540x960 resolution.
Further, Huawei plans on releasing a quad-core tablet cousin to the Ascend P1 S dubbed the Ascend D1 Q. Also expected to run ICS, the tablet is expected to be powered by NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor. The new device is likely to make an appearance at the end of this month during the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. The combination of the two powerhouse devices, along with news of its new R&D operation should help to shift perception of its relative importance in the mobile device segment. [via Fierce Wireless]
