Honor aims to be No. 2 smartphone player in China

Honor, one of the two flagship smartphone brands of Huawei Technologies Co, is eyeing to be the second-largest smartphone vendor in China this year, after the company unveiled its latest flagship smartphone Honor 30 series.

The goal means that Honor aims to be just behind its sister brand Huawei in terms of smartphone shipments in China, where the smartphones sales are recovering as the COVID-19 outbreak comes under control.

Zhao Ming, president of Honor, said: "We will spare no efforts to become the second-largest smartphone maker this year. Our latest premium product Honor 30 series is a milestone heralding a new start. We will show a different Honor brand to consumers."

Priced from 2,999 yuan ($424), Honor 30 series is the latest push by the company to popularize 5G handsets, with China scheduled to start building large-scale standalone 5G networks this year. The phones, including Honor 30, 30 Pro and 30 Pro Plus, are made from premium-looking metal and glass material. Each of them features multiple camera set up on the rear, to lure photo-taking lovers.

Honor 30 Pro Plus comes with a 90Hz 6.57-inch curved panel supporting 180Hz touch sampling rate and UD fingerprint scanner. It comes with a 4,000 mAh battery with wireless fast charging.

Zhao said Honor's sales have been increasing rapidly in March and April after the epidemic was under control in China, and Honor is very likely to achieve the target of becoming the second player in its home turf ahead of schedule.

According to him, the company adopts a little bit aggressive pricing strategy to popularize the use of 5G smartphones, and he believes the sales of Honor 30 series will exceed more than 10 million units.

Honor has released six 5G smartphone models in the past three weeks.

Zhao said, currently, 5G handsets enter into an explosive growth period. In April, 5G smartphones are likely to account for more than 20 percent of all sales in April in the Chinese mainland, and the proportion is likely to hit 60 percent for the whole year.