The fall and rise of Honor
So, the splitting of Honor from Huawei does have good effects. Sure they struggled at first but they are now going back on top. Surely the US won’t intervene because they are no longer involved with Huawei right?
So if ever Huawei has access to Google and other US and western companies, then they will surely bounce right back. Honor is technically a “what if” version of Huawei if they still have US access, and they have proven that, if they aren’t barred, then they can easily go back on top.
Counterpoint Research stated that this is the first time since August 2020 that Honor is part of the highest-selling smartphone brands in China. The company has also grew 18% on a monthly basis last 2021 August and has surpassed Xiaomi as the third largest. The company is currently also one of the fastest growing brands in the country.
Counterpoint Research Director Tarun Pathak said: “After being spun off from Huawei, HONOR was able to restore ties with component players. Since then, leveraging its strong R&D capabilities, HONOR has launched new products and has been on a rapid recovery path in China. The HONOR 50 series has been an instant success in the mid-segment. HONOR is also targeting the premium segment with the Magic series, thus expanding its portfolio across price bands. There was also a pent-up demand from the loyal Huawei and HONOR consumers who held on to their devices and did not switch to other brands. Its strong relationships with distributors also helped HONOR relaunch products on a large scale. HONOR’s resurrection will further intensify competition in the Chinese market in H2 2021.”
The analysts have concluded that Honor was able again to continue its R&D development after it split from Huawei and the company once again started releasing very competitive handsets, which are very successful and largely contributed them from going back to the top, in particular, Counterpoint noted the instant success of the Honor 50 series and has since expanded to other price ranges.
While the company stills fall short to two BBK giants Oppo and Vivo, according to the chart above, their sales are rising, and continues to do so.
While Huawei still dying, and to add salt to the wound, Apple’s iPhone 13 was just released. This phone managed to leverage the Chinese market, especially Huawei and competition will be more intense in the coming quarters. “Over the last year, there has been a reshuffle in the Chinese market. OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi all have aggressively expanded their presence in China in terms of products, market share and distribution. Apple with its iPhone 13 launch also has a significant opportunity to capture Huawei’s premium segment. Therefore, the competition is likely to intensify further in H2 2021.” Counterpoint Research Senior Analyst Varun Mishra said.
While Honor shines brightly in China, it’s going to be a different story globally. Frankly, Xiaomi still dominates the budget and midrange segments and Honor is slowly but surely growing. Loyalty in the mid-segment remains low and that Honor needs to rebuild its reputation in order to gain massive success outside of their home country. While the company’s main line are smartphones, Honor is expanding into other items as part of its 1+8+N ecosystem marketing strategy, which includes laptops, tablets and wearables.
Source: Counterpoint