Japanese Electronics Retailers Divided on Huawei Smartphones

May 26, 2019

Tokyo- Major Japanese home electronics retailers are divided on the handling of Huawei Technologies Co. smartphones, after the United States imposed trade restrictions on the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker.

On Friday, Bic Camera Inc. and Yodobashi Camera Co. started to sell Huawei's new P30 series smartphones equipped with artificial intelligence and improved camera functions.

Only SIM-free models of the Huawei smartphones hit the shelves at Bic Camera and Yodobashi Camera stores, leaving users to separately subscribe to mobile phone carriers for SIM cards.

Meanwhile, Yamada Denki Co. and Nojima Corp. refrain from selling the Huawei products, after three major Japanese carriers--NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and Softbank Corp.--decided to postpone sales of or stopped accepting preorders for the Huawei products.

"We are closely watching the situation," a Nojima public relations official said.

Concerns over Huawei smartphones are growing among Japanese consumers as Google LLC reportedly plans to partially cancel business with the Chinese firm and stop supplying updates to its Android operating system for Huawei handsets.

The four Japanese retailers plan to continue providing as much support as possible for users of existing Huawei smartphones. Jiji Press