Huawei doesn’t make big splashes in the Windows Phone world, but they’re still very committed to the platform. Just yesterday we shared the news that Huawei was still on board with Windows Phone, despite Microsoft buying Nokia’s hardware division. So far they’ve produced two devices – the Ascend W1 and more recently the Ascend W2. But there’s a third on the horizon, the Ascend W3.
Over at WPDang, they’ve received some info of an upcoming Window Phone device from Huawei. It has LTE connections for the Chinese market. What about design? The Ascend W3 will be a bit like the Lumia 925. Meaning we're getting another Windows Phone made of aluminium. It will look like a hybrid of the Huawei D2 and P6, which you can see below. WPDang states that the device will be officially unveiled at CES 2014. If that’s the case, we’ll go hands on with them in early January.
Ascend P6
Ascend D2
Would anybody be interested in another aluminium device? Especially one that combined the two designs from above?
Source: WPDang
Reader comments
Information on the Huawei Ascend W3 leaks, Lumia 925 like body coming soon
They don't look too bad, kinda like a mid-range HTC One.
That thing looks eerily like an iPhone except the curved lower body
I've always liked Huawei. They made affordable and good 3G-modems back in the day when I worked at TeliaSonera, and the only Huawei-phone I ever owned was surprisingly fast/good for its price. Will definitely check this one out if it comes to Sweden. I don't think I'll leave Nokia though, but maybe as a secondary phone.
don't buy Chinese junks plz. All phones I bought were Nokia
I'm on my third Lumia though, and I don't see me changing my primary phone. Wouldn't call Huawei junk though. They passed Ericsson last year and became the largest telecom equip maker, they collaborate with Nokia through their jointly owned TD-Tech company (51%Nokia 49%Huawei). If they can put out affordable and yet good looking Windows Phones I'm sure to give them a try and not diss them just because they're from China. :)
The Ascend P6 (especially the black one) was a copy of the iPhone's design. The D2 is a copy of the Lumia 925 design. Yet Huawei complains about their image as cheap chinese copy manufacturer -.-
Design variety would definitely be nice. I'm getting a bit tired by the lumia designs as of late, save for maybe the 925 (I only dislike the camera hump). Now that the "head of design" (responsible for the 920) guy quit, maybe we'll see something new from Nokia.
Looks nice. Not that any carrier in the US will sell this, and if they do they will treat it like **** and never support it, sell any accessories, and never release any updates to it. But yeah, nice looking for sure!
You can get the W2 (I think) at WalMart, but Congress has advised against buying from this company.
I would purchase it. Nice to have choices. But how is Huawei for app support?
Well, their CEO doesn't support WP... so... I gave no idea about apps actually.
In other news, the Lumia 1020 is now $150 on Amazon! Getting closer to my target price of 1 cent!
That's not happening (the $0.01) until a successor is announced, I'd imagine. So, better expect to wait another 8-12 months.
Black Friday is just another month away...
*2
Well ya can't fault them for trying. You just never know what's going to take off with the kids next.
Looks a whole lot better than their previous offerings. I like this, the W1 and W2 not so much.
I like the metal body designs. I have since since my HTC Radar. Just feels good in the hand to me. Like a beer can.. 8P
LOL, good in the hand. We're still talking about the phone right?
You want a device to feel like a beer can? Those things are rather flimsy...
It looks like an iPhone.
I hope Huawei can achieve success in China, for Windows Phone's sake, but I hope they never make it here in the US... at all.
My sentiment exactly!
I would consider one, yea..
Wow.. It looks awesome.. Really.. :)
Whats with everyone making colored phones? Man, nokia did start some trend..
I wouldn't say that they STARTED the trend (heck, the old Motorola RAZR came in multiple colors...), but it seems to be picking up with the success of the Lumias.
Keith, they always produced colorful phones, but until a few years ago, companies didn't steal that much one from the other (or sue over patent infringements and shit like that).And before 2007, color was pretty present on the market.But yeah, seems like "Lumia" is begging to resonate with many :)
Dude. Stop with the frequent articles. Its weekends.
The more the merrier.
Are you having brain overload on basic articles?
Yes, yes I am.
"Lumia 925 like body". Get the f' out.... This company stole something???? ;p
When did the W2 come out?
August in China.
Sub $199 off contract with LTE? Not happening. $300 seems MORE than fair.
Is it fair to say that? We're talking something of a mid-2014 release. LTE will likely be a nearly-universal feature in devices by then (maybe with the 520-level exceptions). Didn't the LTE-equipped Lumia 820 release at $350 off-contract? It'd be 18 months (or more) old around that time, so if this pulls similar specs to it, $200 off-contract wouldn't be bad.
Heck, if you took that $150 520, slapped in LTE for another $50, you then have a fairly-useful device. For that added $50, you could probably up the RAM to 1 GB as well, while still making a similar profit. So, mid-2014, a $200 device with LTE could happen.
Keith, I'm sorry, I misread. I thought you said $99. Yes, I agree $200 is possible for the reasons you listed.
I still think they should make a little profit, so how about $250? :-)
Can you get these phones in the states?
Well, no you can't Mr. jlynnm350z.
Oh darn. Thank you so much for your thoughtful response.
Dafuq
Great minds think alike.
As long as it helps grow market share in China I'm down with that.
The design is pretty good. I mean not my #1, but it is still good.
Give it LTE for other markets and a sub $199 off-contract pricing and it will sell like hotcakes.
u know... people that can only afford $199 hardly make enough to pay for the the loved LTE services at $20 per mo...
We need a high end. Love the designs.
I think on high end side we have only Nokia, nobody else wants no invest in WP for now, at least I think until WP grabs 10-15% of the market
For some reason I haven't seen WPcentral report on it (I've even sent them tips, maybe they know something that has made them not report it), but HTC is set to release a device either called or codenamed "Harmony". It's reportedly only 4.7" but 1080p with a quadcore. One site referred to it as the HTC One running WP8.
Yeah, I saw that story. Sounds really cool. I'm not really interested in a 6in phone so the HTC harmony might be more to my liking if it is similar to the HTC One.
http://www.bgr.in/manufacturers/htc/htc-harmony-running-windows-phone-8-...
Thanks for the link. It sounds interesting. Beats sound, that UltraPixel camera, 32GB. Sounds like a winner in my book.
Good that they are producing WP's, but meh on the design.
I guess, better then nothing...
I think these could do well as budget-priced phones.
Microsoft should just make WP license free.
They are only making $10 per phone. Non-nokia phones are selling less than 2 million per quarter means $20 million which is very small.
Now that they own Nokia they can make money on hardware.
But it will surely bring more OEMs to WP and more sales.
They should keep hardware restrictions though. Also, services like skydrive and Skype should be pre installed.
Yes, I remember one of the OEM was complaining about the high license fee from Microsoft for WP8.
It was Huawei.
I thought Microsoft lowered the licensing fees on Win 8 & WP8
Quantity does not equal quality. Number of OEMs in itself won't achieve anything if the devices and support are crap because MS licenses the OS to any Tim, Dick & Harry. Just look at the many crap android devices from companies looking for a quick buck.
Whoa! That' fantastic news. Huawei is big player and are getting bigger. These fellas are massive in China. They also produced one of the best Android phone. Don't forget W1 which is by far best entry level WP. Yep, much better than 520. In UK you can buy it sim free (no contract) for £100. If they get the spec and price right for the top end device it will be big seller.