Huawei aims for high end with new smartphones

Chinese tech giant Huawei moved further into the high end of the smartphone market on Monday, unveiling two devices for Asian consumers aimed at rivaling the top global sellers. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Huawei unveiled its new Ascend Mate -- claimed to have the world's biggest screen for such a device, a 6.1 inch display -- as well as an Intel processor and improved battery life. The company also showed its new flagship Ascend D2, touring its power-saving and easy sharing capacity. The devices are set to be released in China, with the D2 slated for Japan later. But Huawei is also edging into the US and other markets where the high end is dominated by Apple's iPhone and Samsung's top line smartphones. Huawei consumer group chief Richard Yu called the Ascend Mate "an industry-leading smartphone" which "showcases our innovation as we continue to make great technology available to more people globally." Yu said the Ascend D2 "has the style, power and all-round performance capabilities you would expect" with a "revolutionary" screen, "unsurpassed camera quality" and power saving technology. The two Android-powered devices, offering some of the sleek lines of the top sellers, will nonetheless be competing in a crowded market with phones from Apple, Samsung, and some powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Huawei has been stymied in efforts to increase its presence in the US market amid concerns that it is too closely aligned with the Chinese government. But it has been selling its Ascend P1 smartphone to US consumers, and recently announced plans to sell an unlocked version through Amazon.