Huawei smartphone spin-off Honor has no plans to develop own advanced chips, CEO says, as Qualcomm and MediaTek offer ‘best solutions’

Honor chief executive George Zhao Ming said the company has no plans to develop its own system-on-a-chip products

The company will focus on noncore chips such as the C1, a self-developed radio frequency communication device to boost 5G signals

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Honor chief executive George Zhao Ming said suppliers MediaTek and Qualcomm provide the “best chip solutions” for the company’s products. Photo: Visual China Group via Getty Images

Published: 7:30pm, 21 Sep 2023Updated: 8:23pm, 21 Sep 2023

Honor, the smartphone brand spun off from Huawei Technologies, has no intention to develop its own system-on-a-chip (SoC) products, as it aims to continue using core semiconductors supplied by Taiwan’s MediaTek and US tech firm Qualcomm, according to George Zhao Ming, the Shenzhen-based company’s chief executive.

Zhao said Honor’s focus will be on noncore chips such as the C1, the firm’s self-developed radio frequency communication device that was designed to strengthen 5G signals. Unveiled in March, the C1 chip was initially built into Honor’s Magic5-series smartphones, according to Chinese media reports.

“We don’t have a plan to do SoC development,” Zhao said on Tuesday after Honor launched on the mainland its unique foldable-smartphone-and-handbag product the V Purse, just days after Apple started pre-orders for its new iPhone 15 series. Prices for Honor’s new V Purse start at 5,999 yuan (US$822).

“Honor’s cooperation with MediaTek and Qualcomm has made it possible for us to access the best chip solutions,” he said.

The long-time partnerships with those two suppliers allow chip platform-based optimisation for Honor’s handsets, according to a statement on Thursday from the Chinese company.

Honor’s V Purse, a foldable-smartphone-and-handbag product, was first unveiled by the Chinese firm earlier this month at the annual Internationale Funkaussstellung tech fair in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Handout

Zhao’s comments stand in stark contrast to the patriotic fervour inspired by Honor’s former parent Huawei after it launched new 5G smartphones – the Mate 60 Pro and Mate 60 Pro+ – powered by an advanced processor, which are all made-in-China products that have become symbolic of the country’s defiance of crippling US tech sanctions.

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