Huawei is looking to get the word out that it’s no longer a minor vendor of low-end smarpthones.
The company will spend up to $300 million in marketing its mid-rang and premium tier smarpthones, according to a report from Reuters.
Shao Yang, vice president of marketing for Huawei’s consumer business, also told Reuters that Huawei’s business would not take a hit on news that U.S. authorities had hackgin into the company’s headquarters.
With its marketing campaign, Huawei hopes to improve its brand image. Until now, the company has largely been known for cheaper, low-end handsets.
According to IDC, Huawei is the third-largest smartphone vendor by volume behind Samsung and Apple, respectively. In the fourth quarter of 2014, Huawei saw the largest year over year growth of any vendor, growing 56 percent to take home a 16.4 percent of the total global market.
In a report, IDC noted that Huawei last year raised its brand profile with a higher proportion of self-branded units compared to the white label work it had done for other companies.