Huawei Sells Its Honor Smartphone Business

Huawei announced today that it is selling its Honor smartphone business to a consortium of 40 companies that will create a new firm.

“Huawei’s consumer business has been under tremendous pressure as of late,” a Huawei statement bluntly notes. “This has been due to a persistent unavailability of technical elements needed for our mobile phone business. Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd. has thus decided to sell all of its Honor business assets to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., Ltd. This sale will help Honor’s channel sellers and suppliers make it through this difficult time.”

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Huawei will have no ownership stake in the new company or play any role in the future of Honor, which is expected to continue as before.

Honor is—or was—Huawei’s brand for low-end and mid-range handsets that target “the youth market.” Huawei firm notes that it sells about 70 million Honor units each year, and that it will continue selling its flagship-class P- and Mate-series handsets.

But the move is just the latest in a long line of setbacks for Huawei in the wake of U.S. sanctions against the company. That said, it did get some good news this week, with some U.S.-based firms, including Qualcomm and Intel, able to now sell it smartphone and PC components again.

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Conversation 7 comments

  • SvenJ

    17 November, 2020 - 1:08 pm

    <p>40 companies? </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      17 November, 2020 - 1:39 pm

      40 total entities, yes.

  • UK User

    Premium Member
    18 November, 2020 - 4:32 am

    <p>Here we go again, having put everything into the Windows/Lumia basket, buying 2 Nokia/Microsoft phones, and being fine with my choice. The camera on the Lumia 650 satisfied my needs, and not being plentiful in money my next choice, considering my budget, would have to last me quite a while. I didn't want to lose my Lumia but Nadella thought otherwise, and I chose an Honour 10 Lite. As you may guess I'm not a megabucks phone type of guy but the spec of this phone seemed reasonable enough and again the camera seemed an improvement on my Lumia. Switching from Windows to Android was a pain at first as were some of the confusing settings on the Honour. I bought this phone before Trump's sanctions came into force so I had Google and the updates. And although I still preferred the Lumia I have got used to the Honour over time, but it's coming up to the end of the 2yr guarantee and with new owners on the horizon I'm not sure what to expect. So the search for another phone will have to start, fancy another phone company Mr Nadella?</p>

    • peterc

      Premium Member
      18 November, 2020 - 5:18 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#593890">In reply to UK User:</a></em></blockquote><p>The point of the sale is to maintain the existing Honor business/supply chain/jobs, and ensure it can use google apps, source chips etc going forward. If anything, this is a good thing for your situation. Honor will continue what Huawei started, and I suspect quite a bit of Huawei IP will come with it too….. maybe camera tech….</p>

      • UK User

        Premium Member
        19 November, 2020 - 8:45 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#593896">In reply to peterc:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks for that peterc, ownership will still be Chinese but not sure how this 'new' company gets around the Trump sanctions, that although now watered down, still exist. I have read that 70 million units of Honor phones have been shipped so it puzzles me why, with such a large customer base, Huawei want to sell. In light of your information it may be worth hanging onto the handset for now to see how things develop, it may even be interesting to say the least. </p>

        • peterc

          Premium Member
          19 November, 2020 - 10:54 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#594193">In reply to UK User:</a></em></blockquote><p>The US sanctions are targeting Huawei as a business, not all of China’s high tech firms. That’s why all the other Chinese handset brands (Oneplus, OPPO, Xiaomi, Lenovo, etc etc) still have access to google apps and component supplies etc. Honor is now just another Chinese handset brand that can freely deal with US firms. </p>

          • mixedfarmer75

            Premium Member
            19 November, 2020 - 11:38 am

            <blockquote><em><a href="#594205">In reply to peterc:</a></em></blockquote><p>This may be true, but I read somewhere that the new ownership has more direct ties to the CCP than Huawei did..so…maybe with Biden it won't matter. Great valued phones. Had a 8x, but I am one of those guys that does not trust China.</p>

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