Hot topics

Why T-Mobile won't deal with Huawei

AndroidPIT huawei mate 10 pro review 1886
© nextpit

CES 2018 was meant to feature Huawei's big break into the US, but now it seems that the Mate 10 Pro will not be offered by AT&T or Verizon. One would expect rival carrier T-Mobile to exploit this by offering the flagship itself, but in fact T-Mobile has its own reasons not to trust Hauwei. Here's why.

Huawei's carrier trouble with AT&T and Verizon stem from pressure from the US government, which suspects Huawei of spying for the Chinese government. While Huawei has strongly denied this, US security services seem convinced that the Chinese company represents an espionage threat, and AT&T and Verizon have not made any comments about Huawei at all. Instead, it appears that the carriers have quietly dropped deals with the Chinese company, and will not be offering the Huawei Mate 10 Pro or Mate 10 as was expected.

Without a US carrier to promote its phones, Huawei can hardly hope to crack the American market and fulfil its ambitions of becoming the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world. With AT&T and Verizon out of the picture, T-Mobile could stand to gain a lot of customers by stepping in to offer the Huawei flagships themselves. But despite the profit to be made, don't expect T-Mobile to bring you the Mate 10 Pro.

T-Mobile vs Huawei: The Tappy affair

T-Mobile has had its own issues with Huawei in the past. One based on corporate rather than international espionage. T-Mobile claimed that Huawei stole trade secrets when its employees took pictures of a T-Mobile robot called "Tappy". The mobile carrier took the Chinese company to court for $500 million, claiming the lost profits and revenue it could have gained by licensing Tappy.

Tappy the robot, designed in 2007, would test smartphones by tapping them in the same manner as a human finger would. Check out T-Mobile's robot in action below:

T-Mobile won the suit, kind of. The jury said that Huawei's actions were not "willful and malicious", and the verdict was a $4.8 million court ruling in T-Mobile's favor, just a fraction of what the carrier sought.

Huawei vs T-Mobile: Patents without permission

That's not the only chapter in the contentious history of T-Mobile and Huawei. In 2016, Huawei filed a lawsuit against T-Mobile alleging that T-Mobile was using several 4G patents from the Chinese company, and refusing to make a license deal for them. While revenge may have been a motivating factor, it's worth noting that in the same period, Huawei started aggressively defending its patents, clashing in court with Samsung and Nokia.

So while T-Mobile could stand to profit from being the only US carrier to defy political pressure and offer the Huawei Mate 10 Pro to US customers, it's highly unlikely that this will be enough to overcome the history of conflict and lack of trust between the US carrier and the Chinese smartphone giant.

With the situation as it stands, there's the possibility that another major competitor, Sprint, could step as a carrier for Huawei flagships, but given all the difficulty so far, it's likely that US consumers will only be able to get the Mate 10 Pro unlocked, paying up front.

The lure of profit can make strange bedfellows. Are you still hoping that T-Mobile could carry the Mate 10 Pro, despite this bad blood? Or would you be satisfied with buying an unlocked one?

The current best Samsung phones to buy

  Editor's choice S23 with a bigger display 2023 flagship 2023 foldable flagship 2022 fodlable flagship 2023 compact foldable 2022 compact foldable Affordable flagship The popular mid-ranger
Product
Image Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Product Image Samsung Galaxy S23+ Product Image Samsung Galaxy S23 Product Image Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Product Image Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Product Image Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Product Image Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 Product Image Samsung Galaxy S23 FE Product Image Samsung Galaxy A54 Product Image
Review
Review: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Review: Samsung Galaxy S23+
Review: Samsung Galaxy S23
Review: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5
Review: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
Review: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5
Review: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4
Not yet tested
Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy S23 FE
Review: Samsung Galaxy A54
Price
  • $1,199.99
  • $999.99
  • $799.99
  • $1,799.99
  • $1,799.99
  • from $999.99
  • $999.99
  • $699.99
  • $449.99
Offer*
Go to comment (7)
Nicholas Montegriffo

Nicholas Montegriffo
Editor

A cyberpunk and actual punk, Nicholas is the Androidpit team's hardcore gamer, writing with a focus on future tech, VR/AR, AI & robotics. Out of office, he can be found hanging around in goth clubs, eating too many chillies, or at home telling an unlucky nerd that their 8th level wizard died from a poisoned spike trap.

View all articles
Liked this article? Share now!
Recommended articles
Latest articles
Push notification Next article
7 comments
Write new comment:
All changes will be saved. No drafts are saved when editing
Write new comment:
All changes will be saved. No drafts are saved when editing

  • 2
    Pav Oct 4, 2018 Link to comment

    I think US government would not allow Huawei and other Chinese phone makers to enter US market simply because Chinese flagmanhips like Huawei and One plus would dominate in US and ruine iPhones, LG and Samsung. Chinese lattest phone models have much better tech characteristics with lower price, which puts them on top.

    hell dog


  • 1
    hell dog Jul 25, 2018 Link to comment

    So did Huawei win that 4g patent lawsuit against t mobile or not? The article doesn't say anywhere and just leaves it in suspense lol


  • CJ Brown 29
    CJ Brown Jan 12, 2018 Link to comment

    I will be getting an Honor 7x and the Honor 10v .... then use them on the MetroPCS (T-Mobile) Network (honestly look forward to a 2nd Gen ZTE Axon 7 in 2018)👍


  • 6
    Deactivated Account Jan 12, 2018 Link to comment

    Got the Mate 10 Pro, excellent phone, strange that people/government are quite happy for Facebook /Apple /Google etc to take your data but first sign of a new kid on the block looking to take over it suddenly becomes an international espionage incident...

    hell dogsam packBastian SiewersCJ Brown


    • 28
      itprolonden Jan 15, 2018 Link to comment

      No. There is evidence of this happening. It's not heresay


  • Nino Hergotić 8
    Nino Hergotić Jan 12, 2018 Link to comment

    I agree, i wouldn't buy a huawei phone ever. UI looks childish and software update track record is inconsistent to say at least. They seem to aggressively push their handsets to the west. Ahhh Chinese...


  • 15
    Kent Shephard Jan 11, 2018 Link to comment

    Wouldn't buy a Huawei phone. The Nexus 6P was a disaster if you didn't buy from Google. Huawei had/has horrible support.

Write new comment:
All changes will be saved. No drafts are saved when editing