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Chinese smartphone maker Honor parted ways with its parent Huawei in November last year as the US sanctions threatened the latter’s survival in the global smartphone market. It appears that move is now paying off for the company. According to a Reuters report, Honor has signed partnerships with several established names in the industry.
Qualcomm, MediaTek, AMD, Intel, Micron Technology, Microsoft, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Sony are all now ready to partner with Honor. They will be supplying the company with parts and components for its future products.
Huawei sold Honor to a consortium of over 30 of the company’s agents and dealers last year. It was kind of a forced sale to keep Honor alive in the global smartphone scene. Since the US has placed Huawei on its Entity List, effectively barring it from doing business with any American company, it’s struggling to keep its smartphone business afloat. A separation from Huawei has now given Honor a fresh breath.
Huawei was particularly struggling to acquire chips for its next-gen smartphones. Honor, meanwhile, has now signed partnerships with all the major chip suppliers in the industry. The company plans to expand its presence globally in the coming years.
Honor joins hands with Qualcomm, Samsung, Intel, and more
Honor has already launched its first smartphone as an independent company. The newly launched Honor V40 is a premium mid-range 5G smartphone powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ chipset. Now that the company has struck deals with Qualcomm and Samsung as well, we should see Snapdragon or Exynos powered smartphones from it as well in the future.
Under Huawei, Honor primarily focused on budget and mid-range products. However, it’s now an independent smartphone maker and is ready to take on the established giants such as Samsung and OnePlus in the flagship segment as well. There are reports that the company will launch a Snapdragon 888 powered flagship in the coming months.
Some of its newly signed partners are reportedly still evaluating the legal implications, if any, of doing business with Honor. However, the company is confident that it can deliver to the expectations of its consumers as well as industry partners.
“The last five months have been an extremely difficult but meaningful time for Honor,” CEO George Zhao said in a statement. “We feel the weight of expectation from industry partners and consumers.”
Huawei reportedly sold nearly 70 million Honor-branded smartphones last year. Industry analysts don’t expect the now-independent Honor to reach that figure this year. However, the company is seemingly highly optimistic and is aiming for up to 100 million smartphone shipments in 2021. We will have to wait and see how things evolve in the coming months.