It’s Official: Huawei Sells Off HONOR Sub-Brand To Chinese Consortium

Last week, news emerged that Huawei was preparing to sell off its sub-brand, HONOR, to another China-based group. That sale has officially gone through, and Huawei has handed off the budget smartphone brand to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology.

With the handoff, Huawei says that it will no longer have a stake in HONOR’s shares, neither will it be involved in any of its business management or decision-making activities once the sale reaches its conclusion. Interestingly, neither Huawei nor HONOR have disclosed the agreed-upon price, although varying reports suggest that the former could have paid anything between US$15.2 billion (~RM62.4 billion) and US$40 billion (~RM164 billion).

Huawei’s sale of HONOR undoubtedly comes at a time when fresh sanctions imposed on it by the US banned the company from using or acquiring American-made components, software, and technology. Even with Qualcomm’s recent success in obtaining permission to resume trade with the company, it’s still a case of too little, too late.

On a brighter side – at least, in HONOR’s case – no longer being affiliated with Huawei means that the sub-brand will no longer be held down by the sanctions that have deeply affected its now-former parent company. Theoretically, that means being given the freedom to choose the hardware they want, along with the software that runs on it.

As to whether or not this spells a return to the use of Google Mobile Services (GMS) for HONOR phones, only time will tell right now.