After separating from Huawei, smartphone brand Honor has gradually reclaimed its market share in China, registering an 8.4 per cent share in June after reaching the bottom of 5.1 per cent in January, a new report has shown.
OPPO, Vivo and Xiaomi, which are locked in a fierce battle to fill the void left by Huawei, will see Honor also entering the field and trying to expand its position in the premium market segment.
The $300-$600 and above segments are expected to see a reshuffle in H2 2021 amid stronger competition, according to Counterpoint Research’s monthly Market Pulse data.
Honor is yet to recover its sales peak of 4.55 million units which was achieved in August 2020.
“The June 2021 sales were only a bit more than half of this peak number. But the current growth momentum appears quite strong as the company’s sales were up 39 per cent (month-on-month) in May and 27 per cent MoM in June,” said Archie Zhang, Research Associate at Counterpoint.
Preliminary data also showed that Honor has maintained the growth in market share coming into July, indicating movement towards a full recovery.
The Honor 50 series’ performance helped the OEM to further recover its market share in China.
“It also reconfirmed the market’s recognition of Honor’s brand and its R&D capabilities. The company says it recorded 500-million yuan sales at online platforms for Honor 50 in the first minute after its launch on June 25,” Zhang added.
The Honor 50 model has a 6.57-inch curved screen with OLED technology and a punch hole solution. At the rear, it sports a quad-camera module.
“Thanks to the low shipments of Huawei’s P and Mate series, opportunities in the premium segment are still out there for OEMs including OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi and Honor,” the report mentioned.