For a while now, users have been confused when it comes to the relationship between the two Chinese tech giants. People that hold Honor phones will proudly beat their chests as they claim to own a Huawei gadget. While it is true that Huawei and Honor were once one thing, it doesn’t stand as of now. Why? How? Let’s answer these questions.
The Honor brand was launched in 2013 as a sub-brand of Huawei. While Huawei’s motive for creating Honor is not so clear, it is assumed that classism was involved. The honor was to be like the Mini to Huawei’s BMW. The honor was paraded as the focus of the launch but in an actual sense, Huawei was. The launch was meant to portray Huawei as the ‘less’ cheaper or more expensive option. The move was meant to elevate Huawei and create a cheaper alternative for the less fortunate.
Now with sanctions from the US government, Huawei was unable to work with American companies, including Google which was its operating system. This meant that Huawei brands were being dropped in the West. Huawei, therefore, had to try to distance itself from its non-google phones outside China. The question then remained, what happens to Honor?
In 2020, Honor was sold by Huawei to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology. After the sale Honor was cut off like an unwanted child. It was blocked from accessing Huawei’s IP address and was also unable to tap into what was an investment of up to 20 billion US dollars.
While it might seem like Huawei was left for dead, it isn’t exactly the case. Free from the US sanctions against Huawei, Honor still had access to Google and still has its gadgets in America. It is however important to note that Honor’s major success is in China, where Google doesn’t catalyze. Honor made it to the third spot of smartphone sales in 2021, something Huawei probably didn’t see coming. Honor’s success is mostly in China. Outside China, the masses are not yet convinced of the brand. Honor struggles to make the top 5 outside China. It is clear then that Honor sales in China are attributed to the loyalty the locals had to the brand when it was still affiliated with Huawei.
Talk about throwing someone to the wolves and they come back leading the pack.