HUAWEI Technologies Co. is making a second attempt at cracking the Brazilian smartphone market, the fourth-largest in the world, with the launch of two high-end handsets this month, after its cheaper offerings failed to catch on earlier in the decade.

The move will take Huawei beyond its current role in Brazil as a supplier of cellular network equipment to challenge Samsung Electronics Co. and Lenovo Group’s Motorola brand which dominate the local smartphone market.

“Brazil is a market with very significant opportunities for Huawei and we have a competitive portfolio to satisfy consumers’ expectations,” said Ketrina Dunagan, Huawei’s vice president of marketing for the Americas.

Brazil is a rare Latin American market where Huawei’s phones are still absent from store shelves. The company currently sells handsets in more than a dozen countries in the region, often with a double-digit market share.

Huawei, the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer, first launched a smartphone in Brazil in 2014, but the Ascend P7 handset met with weak demand and the project was discontinued.

Now, Huawei is planning to import two premium devices from the new P30 series equipped with high-resolution cameras, the company said, withholding details ahead of the April 30 launch.

“The commercial strategy is completely different this time because the brand is still not well-known by Brazilians,” said a source familiar with the matter.

Whereas five years ago, Huawei stepped up as a supplier to mobile carriers, which sell just one-10th of new smartphones in Brazil, this time the company is looking to partner with retail chains that sell more than two-thirds of handsets, the source said.

More cutting-edge models should also help Huawei lure the attention of increasingly sophisticated buyers.

(SD-Agencies)