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Following the sub-brand’s sale last year, Honor has announced its new flagship phone, revealing that it has struck deals with major chip suppliers
Huawei sold off its budget smartphone brand Honor in November last year, with reports suggesting that a Chinese government-backed consortium was willing to pay up to £11.5 billion for the brand. The sub-brand was partly in decline before the onset of 2020, but the heavy US sanctions against Huawei had caused financial difficulties.
Now, as Honor announces the release of its new flagship phone in China, the View40, built independently from Huawei, it appears that the company has also managed to circumvent the majority of the woes caused by US sanctions.
According to a company statement accompanying the launch, Honor now has deals in place with a wide range of tech players, including some from the US, including AMD, MediaTek, Micron Technology, Microsoft, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Sony. The list also included major chip producers, Intel and Qualcomm.
As part of the announcement, Honor said it would target the IoT market, with following the product strategy they used during their time under Huawei, which they called ‘8+1+N’.
While not included in the announcement itself, there is also rumours that Honor will also be able to Google Mobile Services (GMS) due to no longer being affiliated with Huawei. If so, new devices using GMS could hit the market as early as this spring.
Ultimately, this seems to be a relatively direct way of circumventing US sanctions on Huawei but, with a new President in the White House, it seems unlikely that it will prove problematic for Honor.
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