Huawei has been able to attract Chinese consumers by continuing to design and build innovative phones and products even while U.S. sanctions prevent the manufacturer from competing fairly. By producing its own 5G application processors in the face of revised U.S. export rules that prevent Huawei from getting shipped such chipsets from most foundries,endeared itself to many Chinese consumers who feel that the company beat back restrictions on the firm from the U.S.
It was the same story at the Huawei Wangfujing store in the capital city of Beijing where only those with confirmed pre-orders could purchase the Mate XT. About 30 people were seen in line outside the store in Beijing matching the size of the queue at the store in Shenzhen. With the release yesterday of the, about 100 consumers were in line outside of an Apple Store in Beijing.
At a Huaqiangbei electronics market in Shenzhen where phones were being sold from a stall, the salesman said that he is offering the version of the Mate XT with the most amount of memory available for 150,000 yuan . In the Huawei stores that model is priced at 23,999 yuan . The saleswoman working from the stall also said that she is offering the $2,800 model for more than $4,000. When asked if she had sold any Mate XT units she replied,"A few people have asked, but it’s far too expensive.