Huawei has confirmed that it will officially release phones, via carriers, in the US during 2018.

This will be the first time Huawei has done such a thing and the ramifications of the move will almost certainly have implications for the space’s more established players.

Huawei will apparently confirm its plans to release its handsets in the US during CES 2018. Prior to this, we saw leaked software that the company had made for AT&T versions of its phones.

Here’s what Huawei’s president said about the move: “We will sell our flagship phone, our product, in the U.S. market through carriers next year. I think that we can bring value to the carriers and to consumers. Better product, better innovation, better user experience.”

The Huawei Mate 10 is tipped to be the first phone to get a release via American carriers, though there will likely be plenty more after this one, providing things go smoothly.

Over the past several years, Huawei has solidified its pedigree in the UK and elsewhere with solid, reliable handsets that possess excellent specs and performance. The phones were also very price-competitive too.

Analyst firms are already predicting 2018 will be a slow year for Samsung, on account of the increased competition from the likes of Huawei and other, big Chinese players that offer similar quality and experiences for less money.

Nothing is confirmed just yet regarding carriers, though most seem to believe that it will be AT&T and Verizon that carry the first lineup of Huawei, which would give Huawei access to potentially tens of millions of new users.

More news as we get it.