African consumers can expect to get their hands on Huawei Technologies’ new flagship smartphone, the P8, at the end of July the company announced.

Huawei made the announcement at the stylish and lavish launch party held in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday evening.

According to the telecoms company the P8 smartphone is of choice for the fashion-conscious, visually stimulated modern user.

Speaking at the launch event general manager of the Huawei Consumer Business Group in SA, Charlene Munilall said Huawei experienced the strongest growth in the Middle East and Africa region.

And earlier this year Huawei announced that Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region contributed 35% to the company’s overall revenue in the 2014 financial year.

According to Munilall in 2014 Huawei was also named the second largest device manufacturer in African in terms of shipments.

“The goal of the Huawei P8 is to become the most user-friendly smartphone for consumers globally,” she stated.

“Huawei seamlessly combines the best elements of style and durability in this device, delivering a revolutionary and premium user experience. The device symbolises our continuous commitment to provide customers with access to premium quality products.”

“P8 is going to be a cracker and take up volume from both the P6 and P7,” said Munilall.

In South Africa the P8 is expected to retail for R7999 on pre-paid and R199 on contract. In other African markets the device is planned to retail for $680.

The P8 is optimised for 4G/LTE data connections as well as enhanced network roaming

It will first be available in two colours mystic champagne and Titanium Grey, with more colours expected later in the year.

Building brand love

A first for the telecoms firm they have named musician JSomething of local music group, Mi Casa, as the official creative director the phone brand.

Taking to his social network page @JSomethingmusic tweeted, “We're going to make magic :)”

Shortly after her appointment Munilall told ITWeb Africa that traction was slow and her main goals are to not only create brand awareness but build love for the brand in South Africa.

"To be frank with you our products are really good, I think we don't really do an excellent job of communicating that to customers - so we don't have the traction in the market yet.

"We've got awareness maybe, not necessarily love of the brand, so that is what we are trying to build," she said.