Huawei enters Korean PC market with 2-in-1 notebook
Huawei will launch its 2-in-1 PC MateBook in South Korea starting Thursday, the company announced at a launch event in Seoul.
The Matebook was unveiled at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. The launch of the first notebook by the Chinese company firms its focus on the South Korean telecom equipment and mobile phone market.
Huawei previously launched its Y6 budget smartphone and sold telecom equipment in South Korea, but had never launched any flagship products in the market until now.
The Matebook, a competitor to Microsoft's Surface brand, is powered by Intel's sixth-generation M series processor, and packs 4GB to 8GB of RAM and 128GB to 256GB of storage, depending if it's a M3 or M5 model. It weighs 640 grams and is 6.9 millimetres thick.
Huawei will initially sell the notebook online though 11th Street, T-Mon, and SSG.com.
The M3 will retail for 889,000 won, while the M5 will sell at a recommended retail price of 1.299 million won, relatively cheaper than competing models by Samsung, LG, and Microsoft.
In April, Samsung launched its 2-in-1 Notebook 9 Spin in South Korea.
Huawei, however, has yet to make a splash in the local consumer market, despite being one of the biggest provider of telecom equipment to local mobile carrier LG Uplus. In smarpthones, South Korea is dominated by homegrown conglomerate Samsung.
Despite being small, South Korea serves as a good test bed for IT firms due to its high internet and wireless penetration rate.
Huawei recently filed a lawsuit against the South Korea tech giant for patent violation in both the United States and China. Samsung filed a counter suit in July.