Huawei Confirms It Passed On Google Pixel Handsets Over Branding Issues

When Google’s Pixel smartphones only existed in the rumor mill, it was said that perhaps it’s going to team up with HTC to build these smartphones. That didn’t turn out to be true as the company has done the job itself which is one of the reasons why it’s so heavy on the “Made by Google” branding. A report had previously suggested that branding issues had kept Huawei from collaborating with Google on the Pixel smartphones. A new report quotes Huawei’s VP of consumer business group Colin Giles confirming on record that Huawei decided to pass on the Pixel smartphones over branding issues.

The two had reached an impasse. Huawei didn’t want to relegate itself to the point where it was just making smartphones for someone else. Google didn’t want any manufacturer’s branding on the Pixel. They couldn’t reach a compromise so they decided to part ways.

Google and Huawei started their smartphone partnership with the Nexus 6P and it was widely believed that this partnership was going to continue for several years. It ended abruptly with the Nexus 6P as Huawei and Google chose not to work together on the Pixel smartphones.

It’s not entirely clear whether the Pixel had materialized as we know it today when Google was discussing a possible collaboration on smartphones with Huawei or whether it was the result of a major strategy shift that Google made after it saw that Huawei wasn’t going to budge on the branding issue.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Google, Google Pixel, Huawei