Huawei Announced Ascend P7 Smartphone to Compete with Galaxy S5 and HTC One (M8)

Huawei, the Chinese company that is the third biggest smartphone maker in the world, is looking to build on its success in 2013 with the launch of its new flagship smartphone - the Ascend P7.

Huawei said at the phone's launch in Paris on Wednesday that it was "redefining craftsmanship, camera experience and connectivity" with the new phone which features a 5in screen similar to those seen on the Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia Z2 and HTC One (M8).

These three smartphones are seen as the premier Android smartphones on the market and with the Ascend P7, Huawei is looking to become a brand as recognisable as Samsung, Sony and HTC.

The P7 features a Full HD 5in screen with a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch (ppi) which stands up alongside the best screens available today.

The phone has a Sony-built 13 megapixel camera on the rear, and a huge 8 megapixel camera on the front which will make for even higher resolution selfies - and help with video calling too.

Power and pace

The phone is powered by a quad-core 1.8GHz processor with 2GB of RAM, and there is 16GB internal storage with a microSD card slot for expansion up to 64GB.

The company, which holds a huge amount of connectivity patents, has included category 4 LTE support, meaning when fast 4G networks are available it will be able to make the most of these.

The phone has a 2500mAh battery which allows for the reverse charging technology we first saw on the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 earlier this year, meaning you can charge other phones from this phone.

Price and release date

The phone retains the slim profile of the P6, measuring just 6.5mm thin making it thinner that the Galaxy S5 or the iPhone 5s.

The phone, which will be on sale in June in the UK, will feature the latest version of Android, but this will be tweaked heavily with Huawei's own Emotion UI - which if previous versions are anything to on will be fiddly and annoying rather than helpful.

The phone will go on sale in 30 countries by this time next month and will come with a recommended retail price of €449 (£370).

Ambition

Huawei calls itself the tiger of the smartphone market, and its roar is getting louder. In 2013 the company sold a huge 52 million units but the company has set the ambitious goal for 2014 of selling 80 million devices.

The Chinese company became known for selling budget, white label handsets but in recent years has begun to establish itself as a known brand, especially outside of China which remains its biggest smartphone market.

Last year's flagship model from Huawei, the Ascend P6 was launched in more than 100 markets and sold four million units.

In 2012, 80% of the smartphones the company sold were under its own brand but that figure rose to 95% in 2013.

Spying allegations

The company has previously been accused of working with the Chinese government, with claims that it had built backdoors into its networking equipment to allow the government monitor communications in the US and UK.

These allegations have been strongly denied by the company's CEO Ren Zhengfei but it was thought that the negative impact of these reports would harm the company's ability to grow in western markets.

Last March the New York Times and Der Spiegel reported that the Chinese company itself was the victim of spying by the NSA.

The company said that in the last 12 months it had grown market awareness by 52% helping it move into the third place in the smartphone market.