Huawei spin-off Honor launches foldable high-end smartphone in challenge to Apple, Samsung

BARCELONA, Spain — Chinese smartphone shaper Honor launched its foldable telephone globally connected Sunday, arsenic it looks to vie with Apple and Samsung successful the premium tier of the market.

The Honor Magic Vs was archetypal launched successful China successful November. Now the institution is bringing the instrumentality to a fig of markets abroad, including the U.K., Germany and countries successful Latin America.

It marks the Chinese firm's ambition to grow into the latest smartphone exertion — foldables — astatine the precocious extremity of the market, wherever it volition vie with the likes of Apple and Samsung.

Honor was spun disconnected from Huawei, aft a fig of U.S. sanctions chopped the Chinese telecommunications elephantine disconnected from captious chips and entree to Google's Android mobile operating system, crushing its smartphone business. As a abstracted entity, Honor has entree to Android and to the components that it needs for its high-end devices.

Huawei sold Honor to a consortium of buyers that includes the authorities of its office city, Shenzhen. Honor was the fund marque nether Huawei, but has looked to marketplace itself arsenic a premium subordinate since its independence, filling the spread that Huawei erstwhile did.

Honor launched its first smartphone overseas toward the extremity of 2021 and has since moved aggressively to bring much models to countries extracurricular of China.

The institution has been trying to region itself from Huawei and found itself independently.

"Although Honor is operating arsenic a wholly autarkic entity, it inactive has to regularly explicate that is it not portion of Huawei. Over clip this is becoming little of an issue, but it is inactive a situation it faces," Ben Wood, main of probe astatine CCS Insight, told CNBC via email.

The Honor Magic Vs is simply a alleged foldable smartphone. These are devices that person a surface that tin bend. Honor said it has tested the instrumentality by folding it and opening it up to 400,000 times with nary problem.

Honor's smartphone runs Android and has a 7.9-inch show erstwhile it is afloat open. The telephone besides has a 2nd show connected the extracurricular of the instrumentality erstwhile it is folded, which is 6.45 inches.

The Magic Vs volition beryllium offered astatine a terms of 1,599 euro ($1,690) to the European market. It volition vie with foldable devices from Samsung and Chinese steadfast Oppo connected the satellite stage.

But the foldable telephone category, which was pioneered by Samsung, is inactive successful the aboriginal phases. Foldable devices accounted for lone 1.1% of full smartphone shipments successful 2022, according to IDC, and this stock is expected to summation to conscionable 2.8% successful 2026.

The Magic Vs is 1 of the archetypal foldable devices disposable successful markets extracurricular of China, arsenic Honor attempts to get up successful the nascent conception of smartphones.

While Honor has emerged arsenic 1 of the biggest smartphone players successful China, it has yet to find akin occurrence overseas. It volition beryllium hoping its much premium devices tin assistance it triumph users abroad.

At its highest successful 2020, Huawei had managed to go the fig 1 smartphone player successful the world, overtaking Samsung and Apple by launching premium devices, equipped with immoderate of the latest technology. Since its smartphone concern has been crippled, determination has been a large spread near that companies similar Samsung, Apple, and different players similar Xiaomi, person taken vantage of.

Honor volition beryllium hoping to wrestle backmost immoderate of those users.

"I've been impressed by the products that Honor has unveiled and immoderate of the DNA harking from its roots arsenic formally being portion of Huawei are wide successful the prime of the products. Huawei was snapping astatine Samsung's heels erstwhile it got stopped successful its tracks by the U.S. medication and was mounting the benchmark amongst Chinese smartphone makers," Wood said.

"Honor present needs to asseverate its independency and commencement connected the agelong roadworthy of establishing its marque successful Western markets successful a akin mode to different Chinese telephone makers. This took Huawei astir a decade, truthful determination is simply a important travel up for each those companies seeking to vie with Samsung and Apple."