China’s Huawei fights consumer fears at Thai smartphone expo

Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies battled back against consumer worries at a major smartphone expo in Thailand over the weekend, bringing in an army of salespeople to fight perceptions that a US blacklist would hobble its phones.

Thailand Mobile Expo, a triannual event where brands and retailers slash prices and offer deals to ramp up sales, came nearly two weeks after a Reuters report that Alphabet Inc’s Google would suspend some business with Huawei.

Most Huawei phones run on Google’s Android operating system, and Google said it would no longer be able to provide software as a result of the US ban.

To ease Thai consumers’ concerns, Huawei salespeople assured customers that existing products would not be affected. Every product display table also featured a Thai-language copy of the company’s May 20 statement, saying it would continue providing support for existing products.

But some shoppers remained concerned about being cut off from Android updates and possibly losing access to Google applications.

“I’m worried that the old phone won’t be able to get updates because of what happened with Huawei,” said Theerapong Jitjareonmanee, an existing Huawei smartphone user whose concerns held him back from buying more of the Chinese firm’s products at the expo.