It's official: Huawei is selling Honor. Here's what we know

The rumour had been floating around for some time, but now it's official: Huawei is selling Honor. The "dual brand strategy" is over, as the latter brand's business assets are to be taken over by Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co, Ltd.

Huawei, being a Chinese tech giant, has been under pressure in a political war with the USA, which had led to a trade ban - meaning the disablement of Google Services in its phones and further challenges in obtaining certain chipsets at the volume it required. 

The knock-on effect of this was inevitable: even Huawei is thought to have only a limited supply for its future smartphone product line. And with Honor's products often being a close reflection of Huawei's equivalents, the priority to give both brands a chance of moving forward resulted in the proposition of Honor's sale.

That Honor's products have often been so similar to Huawei's, however, does raise the question of what this sale truly entails. In the interests of IP, Huawei surely won't be giving up its patents and processes. As quoted from its official press release, dated 17 November 2020, the sale only relates to its "business assets".

We read that as meaning Honor will reappear in new form, the brand name in tact - but the products being all-new. This is likely also a move to get the new company back on the Google train - as Huawei will "not hold any shares or be involved in any business management or decision-making activities in the new Honor company" - to open up the possibility of international appeal once more.

It's been a good seven-year run for Honor, which was founded in 2013, but now it's the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. The exact implications of which still aren't crystal clear, but we'll be following all developments with an ear to the ground.

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