Poll results: do innovations in the Huawei P8 justify its iPhone or Galaxy S level pricing?

Slowly but surely Huawei built its P-line of flagship handsets as a direct alternative to the more established iPhone and Galaxy S premium smartphone franchises. The P6, P7 and, now, the newly-announced P8, have all shipped with $500+ MSRPs, which is way above what the typical Chinese handset costs, even the flagship ones.

It is Apple that Huawei mimics with the strategy, rather than Samsung, as the Korean company usually stuffs its phones to the gills with the latest specs, while the team from Cupertino bets on a proven specs sheet that is a level below the top-shelf stuff, but stuffed in a well-crafted body, and polished to perfection. Well, the "premium" Huawei P8 version (you know, the one with enough internal storage, as the microSD slot doubles as a nano SIM one, too) will cost 600 EUR or USD, which is not that far off from the price tag that a basic iPhone 6 ($650) or Galaxy S6 ($700) command now. Moreover, while the P8 is thinner than both, it doesn't sport a fingerprint sensor, or a Quad HD display - features that its direct competitors have.

Thus, Huawei breaks the affordable value-for-money mould that we've come to expect from Chinese handsets for years, and Xiaomi seems poised to follow suit, judging from the Mi4 and current Mi Note flagships' pricing. The trend comes to show that Chinese handset companies are becoming more and more confident in their abilities to pull off handsets rivaling the best out there, and are pricing them very similarly, with about a Benjamin discount for the brand name only, hoping to emulate the profit margins of Apple or Samsung.

That is why we asked you last week if you think that Huawei is right to be confident enough about the P8, and price its new flagship close enough to an iPhone 6 or a Galaxy S6. Well, the majority of our respondents (68%) don't think so, perhaps meaning that Huawei is shooting itself in the foot with this one, as most people would go for an iPhone 6 or a Galaxy S6 for a tad more, rather than sport the P8 flagship - we'll see how the new Huawei darling fares on the market, though.