Huawei spin-off Honor working with Qualcomm on 5G smartphones, report says
- Although Honor is no longer part of Huawei, analysts warned the company might still face uncertainties in getting approval to purchase US chips
- In November, Qualcomm said it had begun talks with Honor executives over possible cooperation
Honor, the budget smartphone unit sold by Huawei Technologies Co in November as part of its response to US blacklisting, is working with American chip supplier Qualcomm on 5G devices, according to Chinese media.
A former consumer brand run by Huawei, Honor is expected to launch smartphones with Qualcomm 5G chipsets in May or June this year, local media Caixin reported on Wednesday.
The agreement with Qualcomm was first reported by the state-backed China Securities Journal on Tuesday, citing a supplier to Honor. It said Honor 5G smartphones based on Qualcomm chipsets were already “in the research and development (R&D) process.”
If confirmed, it would mean that Honor – now officially owned by a consortium of 30 dealers led by a company backed by the Shenzhen government – has been able to avoid US sanctions by separating itself from Huawei, whose access to key software, hardware and tech partners has been blocked by Washington.
Honor declined to comment on the reported 5G partnership while Qualcomm did not immediately reply to requests sent to its Beijing and US offices on Thursday.
Although Honor is no longer part of Huawei, analysts warned the company might still face uncertainties in getting approval to purchase US chips.