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Honor Attempts to Replace Huawei as the Leader in Chinese Smartphone Sales
Honor, established in 2013 as a Huawei subsidiary to take on online competitors, sells products targeted at the younger generation and that cost less than its parent company’ products. Honor has since grown to become a household name with a strong online and offline presence in several countries. Last year, US sanctions, caused Huawei let go of its subsidiary to prevent the brand from sinking with it, Purchased by Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd, a consortium of 30 agents and dealers of the Honor brand alongside Shenzhen Smart City Development Group Co. Ltd, Honor is now a separate business with no ties to Huawei giving it access to the supply chain and software services Huawei has been cut off from. Honor confirmed it is in talks with Google to get Google Mobile Services, as well as chipmakers Intel, Qualcomm, and MediaTek. Honor hopes to surpass Huawei, the biggest smartphone brand in China, is making the task easier by reducing sales by a factor of more than ¾ in 2021. But “Can Honor truly survive without Huawei?”
Honor’s Under Huawei
As a sub-brand of Huawei, a number of Honor’s own products were usually cheaper alternatives to that of its parent company. Also, a significant percentage of its products and technologies were repackaged, with some launching first under the Honor brand and others launching first as a Huawei product. The wireless chargers in the image below are perfect examples of the “close relationship” that existed between both companies. The manufacturer did have some exclusive products that were not rebadged or relaunched in other markets as a Huawei device. An example is the Honor Magic line of smartphones and the Honor Hunter line which includes gaming laptops, routers, and accessories. These “self-developed” products are evidence of Honor’s early steps at showing it wasn’t wholly tethered to Huawei. Regardless of whether Honor’s products were repackaged or not, Huawei’s dual-brand strategy helped it become a top ten brands to come out of China.
The Future of Honor
According to its CEO, George Zhao, their goal is to surpass Apple and Huawei,. The company is retaining its sales partners which means it should have no difficulty in making its products available to buyers. The competition is pretty stiff right now with Chinese brands such as. OPPO, Xiaomi, Redmi, Realme, OnePlus and Vivo launching phones practically every week. And Samsung has a renewed focus in the budget and mid-range category although the company has been virtually dormant in China. Honor will have to launch competitively priced and innovative products to get an edge over its rivals. Honor’s plans for the year include a global release of new flagships such as the Honor View 40 and the Honor 40 series. It has also been reported that the Magic series will get a new model too which will be a foldable device. A few mid-range 5G phones have also been certified in Europe and should launch soon.
Honor phones run Magic UI which is a version of Huawei’s EMUI with some additional features. Now that Honor is no longer part of Huawei, it will have to differentiate its Android Skin from that of its former parent company. Honor will likely stick to calling it Magic UI, the work is in creating something that is familiar to users but also distinct from EMUI. When Magic UI 5.0 or whatever this new skin is called, it should first appear on its new flagships; it might even make its debut alongside the new Magic phone before it becomes available for older models.
Honor has an extensive lineup of products that includes smartphones, computers, tablets, fitness trackers and smartwatches, headphones, speakers, smart TVs, routers, and a handful of lifestyle products. It will continue to launch new products under these categories and also add new ones. For example, the Hunter series could expand into a proper gaming line with gaming keyboards, mice, and headsets.
The company was expected to demonstrate its new strategy with the launch of the Honor V40 in China. However, this phone doesn’t bring any visible changes that show it is no longer owned by Huawei, it is the global launch (as the Honor View40) that will reveal if things have changed if it comes with Google Mobile Services out of the box. The Honor 40 and the new Magic phone which should arrive in the second half of the year is really the first opportunity to demonstrate a new vision.
Huawei plans to order components for 70 to 80 million smartphones this year, compared to the 189 million phones the company shipped in 2020. Other inside sources believe that the number is even smaller - around 50 million smartphones in total. Honor’s task is to take up as much of the 110-130m shortfall as possible while the other Chinese OEMs look to do the same thing.
Honor, established in 2013 as a Huawei subsidiary to take on online competitors, sells products targeted at the younger generation and that cost less than its parent company’ products. Honor has since grown to become a household name with a strong online and offline presence in several countries. Last year, US sanctions, caused Huawei let go of its subsidiary to prevent the brand from sinking with it, Purchased by Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd, a consortium of 30 agents and dealers of the Honor brand alongside Shenzhen Smart City Development Group Co. Ltd, Honor is now a separate business with no ties to Huawei giving it access to the supply chain and software services Huawei has been cut off from. Honor confirmed it is in talks with Google to get Google Mobile Services, as well as chipmakers Intel, Qualcomm, and MediaTek. Honor hopes to surpass Huawei, the biggest smartphone brand in China, is making the task easier by reducing sales by a factor of more than ¾ in 2021. But “Can Honor truly survive without Huawei?”
Honor’s Under Huawei
As a sub-brand of Huawei, a number of Honor’s own products were usually cheaper alternatives to that of its parent company. Also, a significant percentage of its products and technologies were repackaged, with some launching first under the Honor brand and others launching first as a Huawei product. The wireless chargers in the image below are perfect examples of the “close relationship” that existed between both companies. The manufacturer did have some exclusive products that were not rebadged or relaunched in other markets as a Huawei device. An example is the Honor Magic line of smartphones and the Honor Hunter line which includes gaming laptops, routers, and accessories. These “self-developed” products are evidence of Honor’s early steps at showing it wasn’t wholly tethered to Huawei. Regardless of whether Honor’s products were repackaged or not, Huawei’s dual-brand strategy helped it become a top ten brands to come out of China.
The Future of Honor
According to its CEO, George Zhao, their goal is to surpass Apple and Huawei,. The company is retaining its sales partners which means it should have no difficulty in making its products available to buyers. The competition is pretty stiff right now with Chinese brands such as. OPPO, Xiaomi, Redmi, Realme, OnePlus and Vivo launching phones practically every week. And Samsung has a renewed focus in the budget and mid-range category although the company has been virtually dormant in China. Honor will have to launch competitively priced and innovative products to get an edge over its rivals. Honor’s plans for the year include a global release of new flagships such as the Honor View 40 and the Honor 40 series. It has also been reported that the Magic series will get a new model too which will be a foldable device. A few mid-range 5G phones have also been certified in Europe and should launch soon.
Honor phones run Magic UI which is a version of Huawei’s EMUI with some additional features. Now that Honor is no longer part of Huawei, it will have to differentiate its Android Skin from that of its former parent company. Honor will likely stick to calling it Magic UI, the work is in creating something that is familiar to users but also distinct from EMUI. When Magic UI 5.0 or whatever this new skin is called, it should first appear on its new flagships; it might even make its debut alongside the new Magic phone before it becomes available for older models.
Honor has an extensive lineup of products that includes smartphones, computers, tablets, fitness trackers and smartwatches, headphones, speakers, smart TVs, routers, and a handful of lifestyle products. It will continue to launch new products under these categories and also add new ones. For example, the Hunter series could expand into a proper gaming line with gaming keyboards, mice, and headsets.
The company was expected to demonstrate its new strategy with the launch of the Honor V40 in China. However, this phone doesn’t bring any visible changes that show it is no longer owned by Huawei, it is the global launch (as the Honor View40) that will reveal if things have changed if it comes with Google Mobile Services out of the box. The Honor 40 and the new Magic phone which should arrive in the second half of the year is really the first opportunity to demonstrate a new vision.
Huawei plans to order components for 70 to 80 million smartphones this year, compared to the 189 million phones the company shipped in 2020. Other inside sources believe that the number is even smaller - around 50 million smartphones in total. Honor’s task is to take up as much of the 110-130m shortfall as possible while the other Chinese OEMs look to do the same thing.
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