Huawei’s former budget smartphone unit Honor sets aggressive targets for 2021, but still needs greenlight from US
- In China’s domestic market, Honor is accelerating plans to open more stores to compete against rivals such as Xiaomi
- Leading US smartphone chip maker Qualcomm said last month that it had started talks with Honor executives over possible cooperation
The former budget smartphone unit of Huawei Technologies, which was sold last month as part of the telecoms giant’s response to US blacklisting, plans to boost its output by 40 per cent in 2021 despite uncertainties over its ability to source critical components from American chip suppliers.
Honor, formerly a flagship consumer brand run by Huawei, plans to produce 100 million handsets in 2021, an increase of 40 per cent from 2020, Nikkei Asia reported, citing unidentified sources. The company declined to comment on its production plan for 2021 when reached by the South China Morning Post.
If confirmed, it would mean that Honor, which is now officially owned by a consortium of 30 dealers led by a company backed by the Shenzhen government, is counting on Washington to allow chip suppliers such as Qualcomm and Mediatek to ship it components.
Huawei said in a statement on November 17 that it had sold the Honor brand. The move came after the US imposed tighter restrictions on Huawei in May this year, restricting its access to chips made with American software and technology, even if they were supplied by companies outside the US.
In China’s domestic market, Honor is promoting its mainstream 30 Pro model for 3,999 yuan (US$575). It is also accelerating plans to open more stores to compete against rivals such as Xiaomi, according to a report earlier this month by local media National Business Daily.