Before its troubles began with the US, Huawei, and its sub-brand, Honor, were one of the biggest names in the smartphone business. The subsequent ban on business with either of these companies for US firms and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has now led Huawei to sell Honor. Huawei’s smartphone sub-brand is now officially owned by the Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., Ltd.
Honor, and its smartphone business, has been sold to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., Ltd. In its official announcement, Huawei says that Honor’s senior management will stay unchanged and so will the company’s business interests and Honor’s direction of development. Huawei will not hold any shares in the company and it won’t be a part of the company’s executive board any longer.
Honor no more a part of Huawei
“At a difficult time when industrial technology elements are unsustainable and consumer businesses are under tremendous pressure, in order to allow Honor channels and suppliers to continue, Huawei Investment Holding Co., Ltd. decided to sell the entire Honor business assets. The purchaser is Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology,” says Huawei in its official announcement.
Honor’s new owner, i.e., Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., Ltd is a consortium of more than 30 agents and distributors. The deal will ensure that the company will oversee resources, branding, production, distribution, services, operations, and executive decisions.
Will this help Honor get back on the global smartphone scene?
A couple of days ago, Qualcomm confirmed that it now has the license to sell some products to Huawei. The same could be extended for Honor, in which case we could see the company trying to make it back to the global smartphone scene.
What remains to be seen is whether Honor undertakes independent development of products, or relies on Huawei’s resources for a while. Earlier this year, Poco separated from Xiaomi as a distinct company but continues to use the latter’s resources for product development and distribution. Similarly, Realme relies heavily on Oppo’s resources for its business in the markets it operates.
Currently, both Huawei and Honor are barred from using Google’s suite of apps on their devices. That said, Huawei has been developing its Harmony OS that could eventually rival Android in the coming days. Honor could benefit from Huawei’s developments in the days to come. Honor itself has branched out into other product categories such as wearables and laptops.
