Rs 1000 Crore Investment, 100 % Local Licensing For Honor Smartphones In India: Madhav Sheth Announces Honor Tech Brand

HIGHLIGHTS

* HonorTech is set to Honor smartphones, tablets, foldable, wearables, and laptops in India.
* Honor is aiming at a 5% share of the smartphone market by December 2024.
* Honor wants to reach Rs 10,000 crore by the end of the next year .

As the government pushes consumer electronics companies towards local manufacturing, former realme India chief Madhav Sheth on Monday announced a new venture called HonorTech, which is a 100 per cent Indian joint venture (JV) collaboration, and will infuse Rs 1,000 crore by year-end to begin with.

HonorTech has announced its partnership with PSAV Global, the current official distributor of Honor products in India. This is a 100% Indian joint venture (JV) collaboration that makes it a “100% Indian company with Indian owners”, as told by Madhav Sheth to ET.
Sheth is the CEO of the newly formed brand who exited Realme India to oversee Honor’s India re-launch.

In an interaction with IANS, Sheth who has been a known for his contribution in Indian smartphone industry, said that with his new venture HonorTech that will bring the Honor brand ecosystem to India, he aims to capture 4-5 per cent market share in the country by end of next year.

The infusion of Rs 1,000 crore will be channeled strategically into enhancing products, refining software offerings and expanding service capabilities.

The company aims to achieve a projected revenue of Rs 10,000 crore by 2024.
“With 100 per cent licensing deal, HonorTech is vested with unparalleled level of decision-making authority and decision-making rights.

HonorTech is aligned with the government’s vision to make India a manufacturing hub and a driving force for innovation that has gained significant momentum in recent years,” Sheth emphasised.

“We are looking to build end-to-end supply chain in India. This will help generate an estimated around 4,000 new jobs by the end of next year,” he told IANS.

Headquartered in Gurgaon, HonorTech has joined hands with Noida-based PSAV Global to expand the Honor smartphones‘ network in the country.

The partnership will pave the way for local partnerships as HonorTech is the first Indian company led by Indian leadership in this industry, working together in collaboration with PSAV, the existing Honor partner.

This collaboration will allow HonorTech to select its product, partners, manufacturing, services and distribution networks for the domestic market.

“Through our collaboration, we offer India a global product and a strong brand that has cutting edge technology, and a self-reliant ecosystem”, said Sheth.

The India smartphone market shipped 64 million units in the first half of 2023 with a 10 per cent year-over-year decline, according to an industry report.

In the second quarter (April-June period), the market grew by 10 per cent over the previous quarter but declined by 3 per cent YoY with 34 million units, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

“We at HonorTech are leveraging our experience and expertise to catalyse transformative change, utilising latent talent, technical knowledge, R&D, and global supply chain,” said Sheth.

Drawing on Honor’s global leadership in R&D and innovation, HonorTech will leverage over 7,800 research and development personnel, six research and development hubs and over 100 cutting-edge laboratories.

HonorTech will begin the smartphone launch in India by importing devices. It has plans to start manufacturing them locally eventually.

It is hoping to begin local manufacturing early next year. But as you may know, these plans depend on various factors including getting necessary approvals from authorities, specifically for the production-linked incentive scheme (PLI).

Talking about the future goals, Sheth said HonorTech would look to capture a 5% smartphone market share in India by December 2024. He is hoping to reach the Rs 10,000 crore mark in terms of revenue during the same time period.

It will start off by releasing smartphones in USD 100 to USD 1,000 (Rs 8,310 to Rs 83,100) price range. These will also include foldable devices. There are also plans to release tablets, wearables, and laptops in the country.

Sheth recently teased the launch of the first Honor smartphone in India by saying, “An optimum tech is coming your way to redefine your experience. A few days to go for the biggest announcement”.

There are speculations it could be the Honor X9a or an Honor Magic series smartphone. It is also expected to release the Honor X90 flagship soon in India.

Faqs

1) What are quick specifications of Honor 90?

Ans) *Display: 6.7-inch curved AMOLED display with a 1.5K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 3840Hz PWM Dimming, Punch-hole cutout at the top centre

* Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC, Adreno 644 GPU

* Software: MagicUI 7.1 Based on Android 13

* RAM and Storage: 12/16GB RAM and 256/512GB of Storage

* Rear camera: 200MP Primary Camera with Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS) and f/1.9 aperture, 12MP ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture, a field of view of 112˚, and a 2MP depth sensor.

* Front camera: 50MP sensor with an f/2.4 aperture.

* Battery and fast charging: 5000mAh battery with 66W fast charging support.

* Colour options: Green, Black, and Ice Feather Blue

* Dimensions and Weight: 161.9 x 74.1 x 7.8mm, 183 grams
* Other specifications: In-display fingerprint scanner, Wi-Fi 6, USB Type-C 2.0, Bluetooth 5.2.

2) What are Honor’s Past Challenges?

Ans) A few years ago, the well-known Chinese smartphone brand, which was a sub-brand of Huawei at the time, faced challenges when the US government restricted Huawei from using Google services.

There were reports suggesting that Honor might leave the Indian smartphone market, but the company later denied those claims. Despite the difficulties, Honor continued to launch new products in India, albeit focusing on smartwatches and tablets like the Honor Watch ES and the Honor Pad 5. The Honor 9A was the last smartphone released by Honor in India, a budget-friendly device priced below Rs 10,000.

Also Read: Madhav Sheth is joining Honor, teases new product launch soon which could be Honor X9a

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