Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor strikes partnerships with key chip suppliers including AMD, Qualcomm, Intel, and more after cutting ties with under-fire parent company Huawei Technologies to save itself.
Earlier, Huawei had sold Honor to a consortium of 30 sub-brands in November’20 to make it possible for Honor to source the components restricted by United States sanctions.
Honor strikes partnerships with the likes of AMD, Mediatek, and more
According to a report, the Chinese smartphone maker is able to partner with major chip suppliers after separating from Huawei. The latter is facing the impacts of the US sanctions that had crippled its smartphone business while disrupting its supply chain. For people who were unaware, Huawei sold Honor last year to a consortium of 30 of its subsidiary dealers and agents in a bid to save its budget smartphone sub-brand.
On January 22, Honor officially launched the Honor V40 with the device selling out in just over 3 minutes. This launch marked the first device to be launched after the split. The company seems to be off to a good start as Honor strikes partnerships with key suppliers from around the world including MediaTek, Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung, Microsoft, Sony, AMD, Micron Technology, SK Hynix, and more.
George Zhao comments on the partnership
As the device was launched by George Zhao, the chief executive of Honor, he released a statement confirming Honor strikes partnerships with key chip manufacturers and that they had deals in place.
Zhao talked about the weight of expectations from consumers and industry partners and how under Huawei, Honor was more focused on budget smartphones. But now, Honor will be looking to move into the middle and high-end market while expanding overseas. The company also claimed it’ll pursue the ‘IoT’ market, using Huawei’s terminology to connect smart devices controlled by mobile phones.
Nicole Peng, the VP of Mobility at Canalys claimed that Honor wanted to show how they’ve been reborn so that new customers can trust them to have the same quality they’ve always had. As Honor strikes partnerships with key chip manufacturers, they will be looking to come up with improved handsets and build credibility. Honor had shipped out 13.3 million handsets in the third quarter of 2020, making up over a quarter of Huawei’s total shipments. Honor has had roughly 8,000 staff members move out of Huawei’s offices to a new headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen.
About 50 percent were involved in R&D, claimed Zhao as the tightened rounds of US restrictions had prevented Huawei’s access to the advanced US chip technology that damaged its smartphone business drastically. The US restrictions were put in place as it was alleged that Huawei’s equipment posed a security threat, a charge Huawei has since denied.
