Put the Huawei Quad Core smartphone on the shelves next to the iPhone, HTCs and Samsung Galaxy S2 and it'll more than hold it's own because it's equally stylish and has a far better spec which the store staff and networks won't be slow to point out. Margins on the Huawei are likey to be better too so that will provide an incentive to show customers what it can offer.

Looking back to my days in the late 70s and early 80s in the retail consumer electronics market it took no time at all for Panasonic (National Panasonic and Technics as they were then), Aiwa, Akai, Rotel, Marantz, Sharp, Sanyo, Toshiba and Hitachi to join Sony and displace well known British and European brands like Ferguson, Decca, ITT, Philips, Pye, Murphy and Bush.

The Chinese situation is very different from the Japanese advances in the 70s and 80s as they were companies that designed and produced products in Japan and exported them to compete with home grown products. The Chinese have learned from making products for American, Japanese and Korean companies and whilst providing production for big names have been investing in competitive products which are slowly but surely coming up to if not surpassing the standards of those they have previously assembeled for the current market leaders. Notably Samsung and LG keep their top of the range devices in-house and they are designed and made in Korea. Having production facilities is a plus factor which may be a key issue as the smartphone, tablet and mobile computer market becomes even more competitive.