Honor has never sold so many smartphones as in recent months. The brand even allows itself to take first place in China, according to a study published earlier this month. Honor is even preparing an IPO to raise funds and thus accelerate its international development.
As you probably know, if you read Frandroid, Honor has changed a lot in recent months. Since its acquisition by a consortium of around thirty companies, Honor is no longer under the control of Huawei. In other words: Honor is no longer subject to the American embargo, can install Google services on its devices and claims to be independent of Huawei.
Despite everything, it is clear that its products resemble those of Huawei. The Honor 50 looks like the Huawei Nova 9 presented in France shortly before. The Honor 50 Lite takes up the aesthetics of the Huawei Nova 8i. Honor Earbuds 2 Lite headphones and Huawei Freebuds 4i. Finally, the Honor MagicBook 14 is very freely inspired by the recent Huawei MateBook 14S.
We had questioned the Honor brand on this subject, they explained to us that ” there are obviously designs that were designed at the same time “. In other words, if the recent products of Honor and Huawei are still as similar as when the first was a subsidiary of the second, it is because the devices concerned began to be developed before the takeover.
In any case, the strategy ofspin off seems to work as recent studies show. Honor has never sold so many smartphones as in recent months.
Honor has replaced Huawei in China
Indeed, a study concerning the first quarter of 2022 of Canalys showed that Honor was the number one brand in China, with 15 million smartphones sold, representing a 20% market share. This represents a year-on-year growth of 205%, indeed Honor only represented 5% of the market in the first quarter of 2021.
The rest of the ranking is interesting: Oppo (18%) and Apple (18%) complete the podium in China. Oppo recorded a 34% drop in sales compared to the previous year, while Apple achieved annual growth of 17%. Vivo (16%) and Xiaomi (14%) complete the top 5, these brands saw annual declines of 44% and 22% respectively. In other words, Honor and Apple are the only brands in China with year-on-year growth.
The Counterpoint Market Pulse ranking for March 2022 shows a similar trend, but Vivo and Oppo remain ahead of Honor. Nevertheless, Honor sees its market share increase from 5.5 to 16.9% and jumps there too, from 166.8%.
Honor is seeking funds to accelerate its development
The former arm of Huawei Technologies Co. is in talks with investors about a pre-funding round. IPOaccording to published information Bloomberg . It wants to attract foreign funding to restore its international corporate image and continue to develop its independence from Huawei. Finally, it is also a means of avoiding the risk of sanctions linked to China. Foreign investors would nevertheless be surprised by the valuation requested by Honor, more than 45 billion dollars, and remain wary of future American restrictions.
In any case, Honor Device Co. is preparing aInitial Public Offering(IPO), or initial public offering in French. This money will be used for its international development. Which means we’ll see even more Honor products in the coming months.
Huawei shows a decline in its turnover
During the same period, Huawei’s revenue continued to decline. The Chinese tech conglomerate is still grappling with US sanctions. The Chinese group’s first quarter revenue was 131 billion yuan ($19.81 billion), down 13.9 percent from a year earlier.
To revive its consumer business hit by sanctions, Huawei is focusing on diversifying its offer, we have seen the MateBook E, the MateStation X, the new MateBook X Pro or the MatePad Paper, they have also recently unveiled a foldable smartphone, the Mate Xs 2. In the smartphone market, Huawei’s global market share fell to 3% in 2021 from 15% in 2020, according to data published by Omdia.
Here is the Huawei Mate Xs 2 🤩
It has a large 7.8-inch unfolded and 6.5-inch folded OLED screen, 120 Hz, a 4600 mAh battery and weighs 255 grams.
What do you think ? 🤔
© Weibo pic.twitter.com/2czi185QMh
— Frandroid (@Frandroid) April 28, 2022
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