Huawei’s millennial-focused Honor brand, which made its U.S. debut earlier this year through e-commerce channels, is coming to brick-and-mortar stores with the rollout of the $199 Honor 5X to 590 Best Buy stores by June 19.
The unlocked 5X is Honor’s first U.S. phone.
The brick-and-mortar rollout is a major departure for Honor, which launched two years ago in China for sale strictly through e-commerce channels.
“Upon entering into the U.S. market, Honor 5X was built on an online-first distribution strategy,” a spokesperson said, but “working with Best Buy gives consumers more purchasing options for the Honor brand.”
The 5X, unveiled at 2016 CES with fingerprint authentication, launched initially through Amazon, Newegg and HiHonor.com/us.
The 5X features 5.5-inch 1080p display, a gently curved design, diamond-polished aluminum-alloy chassis with ceramic coating, and choice of gold, silver and gray finish. Inside is a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage, MicroSD card slot, a 13-megapixel f2.0 rear camera, and 5-megapxel f/2.4 front camera with 22mm, 88-degree wide angle lens for more encompassing selfies.
The second-generation fingerprint sensor on the back delivers a 0.5-second unlocking time. The sensor can be used to unlock the phone, call different contacts, and launch apps.
The phone also supports gesture controls for initiating calls, launching an app while the phone is locked, snapping photos and other functions.
Honor president George Zhao called the phone “a no-nonsense smartphone that delivers all the essentials millennials want and need in a device” at an affordable price.
In the U.S., Huawei-brand phones aren’t available through the four major carriers, but the Huawei brand is available through MVNO Consumer Cellular. Huawei also offers unlocked Huawei-brand phones, including the $199 GX8 launched earlier this year. Huawei also makes Google’s premium unlocked Nexus 6P phone, which can be activated on the four national networks.
