LG Uplus Inc., South Korea's third-largest mobile carrier, said Monday it will start selling smartphones made by China's Huawei Technologies Co. from Tuesday, the first telecom company to sell Chinese handsets in the local market. 

The 5-inch X3, a localized version of what's known as Huawei's Honor 6 in overseas markets, has so far been exclusively sold by Medialog Corp., a LG Uplus affiliate that rents network services from LG Uplus to provide customers with wireless access at an independent rate. 

It will be the first time thus for a Korean mobile operator in full control of its own network to sell Chinese smartphones on home turf, which many analysts view as noteworthy given their growing influence on the local market. 

South Korean smartphone makers, including the world's No. 1 Samsung Electronics Co., have been losing shares to Chinese startups such as Huawei and Xiaomi Inc., who quickly emerged in recent years with their cheaper products. 

Huawei's X3, powered by Google Inc.'s Android 4.4 KitKat, is equipped with its own Kirin 920 octa core processor, along with 3GB RAM and a 16-gigabyte built-in memory chip.

LG Uplus said it has yet to decide its price and shipment, but it is expected to come below 500,000 won (US$449), which is about half the value of the average mid to high-end smartphone in Korea. (Yonhap)