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Huawei
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Should Huawei consider selling smartphone brand Honor to survive US sanctions?

  • If Honor becomes independent from Huawei, its sourcing will no longer be subject to US trade sanctions, according to Kuo Ming-chi, the analyst famous for his Apple product predictions
  • Other analysts do not see Huawei benefiting from any move to divest its Honor budget smartphone business

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Honor unveils its new smartphones in Hong Kong on December 10, 2018. The budget smartphone brand accounted for 28 per cent of Huawei Technologies’ total smartphone shipments in the first half of this year, according to IDC. Photo: David Wong
Iris DengandJane Zhang
Huawei Technologies could consider selling its Honor smartphone business as a means to survive US trade sanctions, according to TF International Securities analyst Kuo Ming-chi, but other industry analysts are sceptical about the Chinese telecommunications giant pursuing such a strategy.
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“If Honor is independent from Huawei, its sourcing will no longer be subject to the US ban on Huawei, which will help Honor’s smartphone business and the suppliers,” said Kuo, who has become famous for his predictions about Apple’s product development, in a report published on Wednesday.

He indicated that such a move could enable budget smartphone vendor Honor, part of the Huawei consumer business group’s dual-brand strategy, to pursue development of higher end models and better compete against Xiaomi Corp, which offers handsets in a similar price range.

That development “would be a win-win for the Honor brand, the suppliers and China’s electronics industry”, he said.

Founded in 2013, Honor has lived up to its name as the unsung hero that has helped Huawei overtake Apple and Samsung Electronics in sales at home and abroad by offering trendy smartphones, with an average selling price of between US$150 to US$220, to young consumers.

A spokesman for Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

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