Best Buy will no longer sell Huawei’s phones, according to a pair of reports from CNET and Reuters. This marks the latest blow to the phone manufacturer’s attempts to sell devices in the United States. According to CNET, Best Buy has stopped ordering new phones from the Chinese company and will stop selling Huawei’s products entirely over the next few weeks.
Huawei has faced an uphill battle in selling phones in the US. Major carriers including AT&T and Verizon have refused to sell the company’s phones due to pressure from the US government, leaving retailers like Best Buy and Amazon as the only remaining places for US customers to get devices like the recently released Mate 10 Pro or upcoming P20 line of devices. Losing Best Buy, the largest consumer electronics retailer in the country, is another major setback for the Chinese phone company.
Additionally, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that it’s not just Huawei’s phones — Huawei laptops, smartwatches, and Huawei’s Honor sub-brand’s smartphones are all also said to be getting the axe at Best Buy in the coming weeks, with the retailer seemingly completely eliminating Huawei products from its stores.
Of course, all that pales in comparison to the fact that the US government is opposed to Huawei’s devices. The heads of the FBI, CIA, and NSA all recommend against using the phones due to concerns about the company’s ties to the Chinese government, and a new bill currently working its way through Congress would ban government agencies from using Huawei and ZTE phones.
Update March 22nd, 2:45pm: Updated post to include new information from Mark Gurman claiming that Huawei laptops and smartwatches will also be removed from Best Buy stores in the coming weeks.