Chinese smartphone brand Honor is aiming for the top three spot in SA’s devices market, nearly one year after re-establishing itself locally.
This was the word from Honor SA’s new country manager Freddy Tong, in an interview with ITWeb.
To achieve this feat, Honor will have to knock down either Samsung, its former parent company Huawei or Apple, as they currently assume the top three positions in smartphone market share in SA.
In March, Samsung was the market leader with 48.12% market share of mobile device vendors in SA, according to research from Statista. Huawei was ranked second, with almost 24%, followed by Apple with 16%, it states.
Furthermore, Honor SA will have to compete with a host of Chinese original equipment makers (OEMs) that are making inroads locally and vying for the top spot.
However, the company is confident 2023 and the coming years will be big for the brand, with plans to open an experience store, boost its product offering and partnership network, as well as brand presence.
Says Tong: “In one to three years, our goal and target is to be among the top three or even top two OEM brands in this market. We have made customer-centricity our culture, understanding the needs of our consumers.
“Secondly, we want to offer a wide range of products. This year, we mainly focused on smartphones, but next year, we will have an ecosystem of products for the Honor consumers.
“And thirdly, we plan to cooperate with our partners – suppliers, networks and dealers – to offer the best service to consumers.”
Google backing
Honor separated from Huawei in November 2020, amid the sanctions faced by the latter in the US. Huawei decided to sell Honor to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology, in an effort to save the brand.
At the time, the Chinese technology giant said the sale would help Honor's channel sellers and suppliers make it through the difficult time.
Under new ownership, Honor’s devices are equipped with Google Mobile Services (GMS), which are the Google apps that often come pre-installed on Android devices.
In terms of its products, the device manufacturer has different smartphone categories, namely its X Series, whose pricing is more for the middle to low-end market, according to Tong. The Honor number series, which includes Honor 50, Honor 50 Lite and Honor 70, is for the middle to high-end market, while the Magic Series is for the premium devices market.
Commenting on whether Honor devices being equipped with GMS is an advantage for the smartphone brand, Tong says: “Yes, definitely. That is why we cooperate with Google to develop the MagicOS 7.0, which is the newest OS.
“GMS is kind of our strength, not only for our strength but also for the consumers…because they want to use Google Drive, Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps, etc.”
According to Tong, Honor also recently started working with network partner Vodacom, after having partnered with MTN and Telkom.
“Everywhere, the partner is one of the most import areas of the business…without our partners, we cannot do anything. It’s not only our network partners, but also our suppliers.”
Commenting on the impact of the partnership network on business, he states Honor has done a “really good job”, especially since it partnered with Vodacom. “We’ve launched the X Series, Magic Series, and this month, we launched Honor 70 – we did a very good job and we’re already grabbing some share from the market.”
Following the announcement that Honor plans to introduce foldable smartphones in Europe as well as international markets, Tong confirmed these devices will also be coming to SA.
In addition, the company will open its experience store next year, according to the country manager. Although nothing has been confirmed, it’s likely to be located in one of the big malls like Mall of Africa or Sandton City, he adds.
“Samsung and Huawei have their experience stores. This year, at the current stage, we don’t have a plan, but we are planning to have it next year.
“Next year, we’ll bring more products, including the foldable phones, as well as IOT products, including laptops, tablets, earbuds and wearable devices.”
Tong concluded that the foldable smartphones will most likely be available in the local market between Q1 and Q2 of 2023.