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News - Megan Robinson
November 22, 2021
With access to Google Mobile Services once again, Honor is back in the battle, according to industry analysts
Honor has been tipped by analysts to become a successful standalone smartphone brand if it can avoid sanctions.
This comes after the vendor recently launched its first series in Europe supporting Google Mobile Services since its split from former parent Huawei.
As a sub-brand of embattled Huawei, Honor got caught up in the US trade sanctions, which saw a full Google ban.
Last month, Honor launched its 50 series in European markets and Canalys principal analyst Ben Stanton expects the vendor to be competitive once again.
“Honor can certainly be successful as a standalone brand,” said Stanton. “New brands can achieve top-tier status in short time frames; just look at Xiaomi’s stunning momentum in Europe, or how quickly Realme has become a global top-ten brand.”
Peter Richardson, research manager at Counterpoint Research, agrees but acknowledges it won’t be easy.
“There’s no reason why it [Honor] can’t be a successful standalone brand. It has a lot of engineering talent on board and a management team with deep knowledge of how to run a successful smartphone business,” he said.
Cautious
But IDC research manager Marta Pinto is a bit more cautious about Honor’s chances, saying the vendor is up against tough competition and will need to regain trust from consumers for the brand to be a success.
“It will be a tough journey,” she said. “Re-entering a market is already difficult, but for Honor it will mean needing to regain customer trust. To do that, the brand will have to invest in making sure the new message of reliability, privacy and security passes onto customers and channel partners.”
