Huawei seeks to move up smartphone food chain with new Ascend P7

By Leila Abboud PARIS (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies launched its second flagship smartphone, the Ascend P7, on Wednesday as part of its effort to crack the upper tier of the mobile market where Apple and Samsung still rule. The mobile - billed as the world's slimmest phone at 6.5 mm thick - will go on sale in 31 markets, including Britain, Germany and China, starting this month for 449 euros ($630) without a SIM card or service contract. Huawei, best known as a maker of telecom network gear where it competes with Sweden's Ericsson, has become the world's third-biggest smartphone manufacturer behind Samsung and Apple only three years after launching its own branded mobiles and tablets. Huawei's smartphone success was built on selling mid-priced models in the fast-growing Chinese market as well as appealing to price-conscious consumers in western Europe, but the United States has proven tougher to break into.

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