Huawei's online-only Honor brand hopes to double its sales and profits by 2015-end

Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei’s e-only smartphone brand Honor is aiming to double sales, and in turn, double profits with a strong focus on India, a top company official said. “Honor, which started in 2013 as a $100 million (roughly Rs. 650 crores) brand, scaled up 22 times in 2014 to become a $2.4 billion (roughly Rs. 15,563 crores) company. Now we are looking to double our profits to touch $5 billion (roughly Rs. 32,424 crores) by 2015-end,” Zhao Gang, vice-president, Honor International Business, told IANS on the sidelines of the Honor 7 flagship smartphone launch event. “India is the most important market for us and over 300 engineers are working on the brand from India’s research and development centre in Bengaluru,” he added. Huawei’s Bengaluru research and development centre is the largest overseas centre for the company and houses 3,000 of an approximately 7,000 engineers working for the company. The company’s spokesperson hinted at evaluating a local manufacturing facility to cater to Honor’s local demand. The company has sold 20 million handsets globally and wants to achieve a sales volume of 60 million by selling 40 million handsets this year. According to the company, having presence in over 57 markets, a Honor smartphone is sold every 1.5 seconds. The company on Wednesday also launched its flagship Honor 7 smartphone and the Honor Band Z1 at Rs. 22,999 and Rs. 5,499, respectively. The phone will be sold with an exclusive partnership with domestic e-commerce portal Flipkart. “As a global pioneer, Honor travels wide and this is currently demonstrated by its efforts in key markets such as India, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The device’s precise dimensions and metallic finish offer an optimal form-factor and premium feel, while its smart and multimedia capabilities inspire action and creativity,” Zhao Ghang said. “Honor is created for digital natives and is dedicated to meet the audience’s needs… Honor will continue to seek feedback from its customers, which it will factor in the development of future products,” said P. Sanjeev, director of sales (devices business), Huawei Telecommunications. IANS