Huawei sells Honor smartphone biz to ‘ensure its own survival’

Honor smartphones have been hit by US sanctions that prevent Huawei from doing business with the US companies.

New Delhi: Struggling to keep its consumer business afloat in the wake of the US sanctions, Chinese conglomerate Huawei on Tuesday announced to sell off its Honor smartphone business assets to China-based Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co Ltd.

The company said that the sale — which could be around $15 billion according to multiple reports — will help Honor’s channel sellers and suppliers make it through this difficult time.

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Honor smartphones have been hit by US sanctions that prevent Huawei from doing business with the US companies.

“Once the sale is complete, Huawei will not hold any shares or be involved in any business management or decision-making activities in the new Honor company,” the company said in a statement.

“Huawei’s consumer business has been under tremendous pressure as of late. This has been due to a persistent unavailability of technical elements needed for our mobile phone business,” it added.

Huawei said the move has been made by Honor’s industry chain to “ensure its own survival”.

Over 30 agents and dealers of the Honor brand first proposed this acquisition.

Since its creation in 2013, the Honor brand has focused on the youth market by offering phones in the low- to mid-end price range.

“During these past seven years, Honor has developed into a smartphone brand that ships over 70 million units annually,” Huawei said.

In India, Honor recently entered the laptop market and also expanded its wearables portfolio in the country.

According to the Charles Peng, President, Honor India, the company’s entry into the India laptop market in August this year has also turned out to be a success.

Launched at Rs 42,990, the company’s introductory laptop, Honor MagicBook 15, comes with 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, a hidden pop-up webcam, 2-in-1 fingerprint power button and a compact 65W fast charger.

“It was sold out within seconds as soon as it went online. Further, we have received encouraging and positive feedback from our consumers who wish to own a PC that fulfills their requirements as well as suits their personality with a premium product at a competitive price,” Peng told IANS last month.

“On future prospects, we are confident about our performance in India. We aim to create an intelligent new world for individuals by developing a smart living ecosystem having a diverse product portfolio including smart band, smartwatch, smart audio, laptops, and smartphones,” he said.