Honor, the spin-off handset brand of Huawei Technologies, has made further management changes this week following the abrupt departure of its CEO last Friday, as the company prepares for a stock market listing amid cut-throat competition in the world’s largest smartphone market.
Following the appointment of Huawei veteran Li Jian last Friday to replace outgoing CEO George Zhao Ming, Honor’s management shake-up continued as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for the China region, Jiang Hairong, also tendered his resignation, according to a Monday report in the China Business Journal.
According to the report, the company’s global CMO Guo Rui will also temporarily take on the role of the China region. In addition, Honor’s China sales chief Zheng Shubao will be replaced by Chen Haoqian, the regional head of eastern Jiangsu province.
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Honor confirmed the changes when contacted on Tuesday. “This is a routine adjustment by regional managers,” a company representative said.
A look at Honor’s smartphone factory in Shenzhen. Photo: Handout alt=A view of Honor’s smartphone factory in Shenzhen. Photo: Handout>
The latest departures reflect the internal complexity within the company after it underwent an organizational overhaul as part of preparations for an initial public offering (IPO), which was announced in November 2023.
Honor’s new management team will face increasing challenges, including recovering lost ground in the local smartphone market and putting the IPO on track.
Honor, China’s fourth-largest smartphone maker in 2024 based on IDC data, has seen its market share shrink due to cutthroat competition at home from rivals including the resurgent Huawei, its former parent company.
“Huawei had the most direct impact [on Honor]” said Will Wong, senior research manager for client devices at IDC Asia-Pacific. “While Huawei also posed challenges for other local and foreign brands, Honor faced unique challenges due to its association with [its former parent].”
Honor’s Chinese shipments fell 14.9 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year, the biggest decline among the top five smartphone makers in the period, according to IDC. It ranked fifth with a 13.7 percent share in the quarter, behind Apple, Vivo, Huawei and Xiaomi, up from 16.8 percent in the same period in 2023.
“2025 will be another challenging year, with fierce competition among the players [smartphone makers] to take advantage of the market recovery,” Wong said, adding that Honor’s new CEO will play a crucial role in navigating the competition and driving the company’s growth.
However, IDC’s Wong noted that Honor’s single-digit growth last year, based on total global sales, was “impressive” thanks to its expansion in Europe and emerging markets.
The company surpassed Samsung Electronics to become the No. 1 foldable phone manufacturer in Western Europe in the second quarter of last year, according to data from Counterpoint Research. It has continued its international expansion and earlier this month announced plans to launch more than 30 products in Indonesia by 2025.
In 2020, Huawei, which was added to a US trade blacklist in May 2019 and saw tighter restrictions on access to advanced chips in 2020, sold its sub-brand Honor to a consortium of more than 30 agents and dealers to protect that company from sanctions. .
Veteran Huawei executive Li Jian was appointed Honor’s new CEO. Photo: Handout alt=Veteran Huawei executive Li Jian was appointed the new CEO of Honor. Photo: Handout>
The consortium, Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology, was founded by the Shenzhen Smart City Technology Development Group, which counts state-owned investment companies in the southern technology center as its main shareholders.
In 2023, Honor recruited Wu Hui, a veteran state-owned company executive, to take over as chairman of the board, replacing Wan Biao who was vice chairman until he left the company last September.
Last October, the company announced new investors including China Telecom, CICC Capital, Cornerstone Venture Capital and Shenzhen-based fund SDG. In August, Honor received an undisclosed amount of investment funding from China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile network operator.
Honor currently has 23 shareholders, including state investors, suppliers and other investors, according to business intelligence platform Tianyancha.
Last month, the company said it has transformed into a public company as it moves forward with its IPO plans. This meant changing the shareholder structure and adopting the name Honor Device, which had no impact on daily operations, according to the announcement on the website.