Love it or hate it, the smartwatch trend is here to stay, and China’s Huawei Technologies is the next smartphone company looking to leap on the bandwagon.

Huawei is planning to showcase its smartwatch at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this month, alongside which it will also be unveiling a new smartphone and two new tablets. Huawei isn’t the only Chinese smartphone manufacturer looking to hop into the wearable market, ZTE also announced its plans for a smartwatch back in November.

According to Huawei, the new smartphone model won’t be a successor to its flagship Ascent P6, suggesting that the handset will probably be something in the mid/low tier of the market. Remember that the Ascend P6 was only recently given a slight refresh, in the form of the Ascend P6S. Instead, Huawei is planning to unveil its next flagship smartphone at its own launch event, which will be held at a currently unspecified date later on in the year.

With the wearable technology market growing quickly, this could be the Chinese manufacturer’s chance to steal some marketshare in western markets, although Huawei hasn’t specified in which regions it will be selling the new smartwatch. Huawei is already the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, but so far hasn’t managed to become a household name in Europe and the US yet.

Could the smartwatch be the key to unlocking the western markets, or do you see them as more of a fad?