In a move that would have seemed unlikely a year ago, numerous mainland Chinese smartphone makers are placing new and bigger bets on the saturated U.S. market.

The efforts are driven by the belief that Samsung Electronics, despite its hefty market share, hasn’t captured the loyalty of its smartphone customers in the way that Apple has, and that recent moves by wireless carriers towards selling more smartphones without long-term contracts will help them compete.

This group of Chinese manufacturers includes one of the top smartphone players outside the U.S., Huawei Technologies, and a slew of others—most notably Xiaomi, Alcatel Mobile Phones, ZTE, Oppo Electronics and Gionee Communication Equipment.