Honor’s new brand strategy is simple: don’t mention Huawei

The smartphone brand spun out from Huawei in a bid to circumvent US sanctions is keen to show what a different proposition it is.

At the core of any corporate transformation, of course, is a new brand strategy. New-look Honor is all about the slogan ‘go beyond’, which is just as substantial as you’d expect. “Our customers are our number one priority, and as we embark on this exciting new chapter, we are dedicated to going above and beyond to create a new intelligent world for everyone around the globe,” said Honor CEO George Zhao, who was also in charge of it during the Huawei era.

‘To achieve its brand mission and satisfy the evolving needs of its customers, Honor introduced its refreshed brand strategy,” explained the press release. ‘By focusing on three key pillars: All Scenarios, All Channels and All People, while continuing to embrace its “1+8+N” product strategy, Honor will strive to create a new intelligent world for everyone.’

All clear enough except for this 1+8+N business. A spot of light Googling reveals it’s a Huawei initiative, so perhaps not the best thing to flag up in an announcement designed to stress how autonomous and definitely not in any way connected to the Chinese state Honor now is.

Other than that we got some new products, the most significant of which is the View40 flagship smartphone. There were some other gadgets too, all notable due to the origin of its components. Honor has already confirmed partnerships with AMD, Intel, Microsoft and Qualcomm, all of which, you may have noticed, are American.

After all the fuss of the Trump administration this rebrand seems like a strangely elementary way of getting around the component embargo. We can presumably expect to hear about a new telecoms equipment brand called Nuawei before long.