Honor

Honor started in 2013 as Huawei's answer to Xiaomi, targeting younger buyers with phones sold mostly online at aggressive prices. The brand grew fast inside Huawei's shadow, but everything changed in November 2020. U.S. sanctions had cut Huawei off from key chip suppliers, so Huawei sold Honor to a consortium of 30-plus dealers and agents for about $15.2 billion. The new entity, Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology, made Honor an independent company free to buy chips from Qualcomm, MediaTek, and others.

Since the split, Honor has rebuilt itself from the ground up. It now ranks as the world's fifth-largest smartphone maker with roughly 5 percent market share as of early 2024. Its strongest footprint is in China, where it holds about 14 percent of the market, and it has expanded aggressively across Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The product lineup spans the premium Magic series (including foldables like the Magic V3), the mid-range Honor 200 line, and budget X-series phones. Beyond phones, Honor sells MagicBook laptops, tablets, wearables, and audio gear, all tied together by its MagicOS software.

The company is led by CEO George Zhao Ming, who previously ran the Honor brand within Huawei. Headquartered in Shenzhen, Honor employs roughly 8,000 to 10,000 people globally and operates R&D centers in Beijing, Nanjing, and Xi'an. Revenue hit about $8.5 billion in 2023, and the company is preparing for an IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market, targeting a valuation between $20 billion and $30 billion.[edit]