You probably wouldn't guess it if you live in the United States or Europe, but Huawei is actually a pretty big brand in Asia. In China, the national manufacturer controlled 15.7 percent of the smartphone market share in Q2 2015 — more than either Apple or Samsung and just shy of Xiaomi's 15.9 percent. This alone accounts for a significant part of why it's the third largest smartphone vendor in the world, with that only set to improve as Huawei expands into more countries across Europe and the Americas.

The newly announced Mate 8 is the flagship Huawei hopes will lead that expansion, and is the successor to last year's Ascend Mate 7, on which Google based the Nexus 6P.