Exclusive | Honor CEO speaks out: unburdened by US sanctions on Huawei, the budget smartphone brand looks to take on Apple and former parent
- Since leaving Huawei in November, Honor CEO George Zhao says the company wants to make phones that surpass those of its former owner and Apple
- Renewed partnerships with US companies like Qualcomm, Intel, AMD and Microsoft offer a reprieve to Honor, but topping competitors remains a steep climb
No longer constrained by the sanctions that have hammered Huawei Technologies Co’s smartphone business, Honor Device Co has a new mission for 2021: compete with its former owner and Apple in the market as an equal, the company’s CEO George Zhao Ming told the South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview.
“Our core mission this year is to make flagship phones that can compete with Apple and Huawei in China,” Zhao said in an interview at Honor’s new office, located just 15km (9 miles) from Huawei’s Shenzhen headquarters. The office is so new that Zhao has to keep all the windows open to dissipate the smell of paint and drywall.
“No matter who the competitors are, we have a target to surpass them, including Huawei,” he added.
While it is not unusual to see tech companies clustered close to each other in China’s southern tech hub of Shenzhen, Honor’s new home for its 8,000 employees is emblematic of the company’s current situation. Despite being Huawei‘s new smartphone rival, Honor was moulded in its former parent’s image.
“In my over twenty years at Huawei, Mr Ren [Zhengfei, the founder and CEO of Huawei] gave me a lot of guidance on policy and strategy,” said Zhao, who started working for Huawei in 1998 after graduating from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
“When the Honor team left Huawei, we got so many blessings and support from them that we really have very few constraints on our development and opportunities,” he said. “In fact, Ren said that those who aren’t the best aren’t allowed to join Honor.”
