In November, Huawei sold its Honor sub-brand to a consortium of over 30 agents and dealers in China. A month later, the Chinese media reported that Honor is in talks with Qualcomm for using its chipsets for forthcoming smartphones. Fresh information shared by a Chinese publication today claims that the talks between both companies are not only in progress but also Honor is reportedly working on a smartphone that is powered by Qualcomm’s 5G chip. Hence, it appears that Honor may launch smartphones powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets.
Since Honor is no longer associated with Huawei anymore, it is free from restrictions that are levied on Huawei. This allows Honor to work with different chipset brands like MediaTek and Qualcomm. Reports that surfaced last month claimed that Qualcomm and Honor are working closely to reach a supply chain cooperation.
The new report states that the research and development of Honor phones based on Qualcomm’s 5G-ready chipsets are advancing steadily. At present, Qualcomm has a couple of 5G-enabled chipsets such as Snapdragon 480, Snapdragon 690, Snapdragon 750G, Snapdragon 765G, and Snapdragon 888. It is unclear whether Honor is working on any of these Qualcomm chips.
Past reports have claimed that Honor may launch the Honor V40 series of smartphones on Jan. 18 in China. It can be said based on recent reports that the upcoming V40 models will not be featuring Qualcomm’s 5G chip. The V40 lineup could be equipped with Dimensity 1000+ 5G chipset by MediaTek.
After separating from Huawei, Honor CEO Zhao Ming said that Honor is aiming to become the number one smartphone brand in China. Apart from launching smartphones, the company will continue to launch other products such as smart TVs, smartwatches, fitness bands, laptops, and so on like before.
