This move is aimed at helping the flailing brand by separating it from Huawei which is still under the sanctions from Washington. These sanctions prevent the company from gaining access to certain US technology and processor chips.
The sanctions have affected the company’s sales outside China, with Canalys stating that total shipments of Huawei and Honor phones fell 5% from a year earlier in the end of the second quarter to 55.8 million units. Its new owner, Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd, has signed an agreement with Huawei Investment Holdings Co. Ltd to acquire the Honor smartphone business. Huawei has also stated that this change in ownership will not affect the direction of Honor’s development, while stating that senior management will also stay on board. Honor was founded in 2013 and grew to become a popular smartphone brand over the years. This announcement by the company does not tell how the new owners may gain access to American chipsets or other technology like Google’s music app, maps and other services. Notably, a number of other Chinese smartphone brands like Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi operate with these services. We will have to wait for the announcements and releases of new Honor phones under the new ownership to see how well this move plays out in helping the brand to survive. References
