With Huawei facing immense pressure for its smartphone business due to the sanctions imposed by the US’ trade ban, the Chinese brand is considering various options to stay afloat. One of these options is selling part of HONOR’s smartphone business.
This move was initially revealed by TF International Securities analyst Kuo Ming-chi, explaining that such a move will help HONOR become independent from Huawei and be no longer a subject of the US Trade Ban. While Huawei employees refuted Kuo’s claims, Reuters reports that a deal is actually in the works.
According to its sources, Huawei is reportedly talking to Digital China Group—which has TCL as one of its brands—for a possible sale of a portion of HONOR’s smartphone business. The deal is reportedly valued at 25 Billion Yuan (~Php 181m). Under the said deal, Huawei will be selling HONOR’s brand, research & development capabilities, and related supply chain management for its smartphone business unit.
Aside from Digital China Group, Huawei is also talking to Xiaomi as well for a possible deal. All three parties declined to comment on the matter.
While HONOR is a sub-brand of Huawei that was founded in 2013, the brand operates independently from Huawei. Aside from focusing mostly on online sales, HONOR accounted for 14.6 million smartphone units, or around 26% of the 55.8 million smartphones Huawei shipped during the second quarter of this year according to a report by Canalys.
