India-first product in works, local manufacturing on anvil: Huawei's Honor

Huawei's digital brand Honor is set to go aggressive on its '1+8+N' product strategy, which it announced late last year

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei’s digital brand Honor is set to introduce its MagicBook 15 notebook in India on July 31. Along with it, the company will also bring its Honor 9A and Honor 9S smartphones to the country, as it prepares to go aggressive on its ‘1+8+N’ product strategy announced late last year.

The MagicBook 15’s India model will be similar to the notebook’s global model, powered by American chipmaker AMD’s Ryzen 3-series processors and Microsoft Windows 10 Home operating system. It would be the first Honor-branded laptop in India, and the company would also bring its other notebooks, including the Intel processor-powered notebooks, to the country, said Honor India President Charles Peng in an interaction with Business Standard.

“Honor MagicBook 15 was unveiled globally and it witnessed a promising response from consumers worldwide. We are bringing the Magicbook 15 global variant to India and we are confident of repeating our success in India as well,” Peng added.

The company would import the MagicBook 15 laptop from China, but its future notebooks might be manufactured in India. “We are committed to bringing new products to India and manufacturing of products in India is on the cards. The MagicBook 15 will be our first laptop in India and we are eager to see response from consumers. Soon, there is a good possibility that you see ‘Made in India’ laptops as well,” said Peng.

Like the MagicBook 15, the Honor 9A and Honor 9S India models will be similar to their respective global models. Both are budget smartphones with entry-level specifications and features, powered by Android operating system. However, unlike other Android smartphones, the upcoming Honor-branded smartphones are likely to ship without Google Mobile Service due to the ongoing US-China trade tussle, where American companies are not dealing with Huawei and its subsidiaries.

Honor has a history of launching products in its home country first and then bringing them to other global markets, including India. However, this is set to change, as the company is working on an India-first product.

“We invest a lot in our research & development work and try to bring latest innovations in all the products that fall under our 1+8+N strategy. We are soon going to bring a product which will be launched in India first,” said Peng.

In Honor’s ‘1+8+N’ product strategy, ‘1’ represents smartphones, ‘8’ televisions, speakers, watches, laptops, fitness bands, glasses, etc, and ‘N’ partner ecosystem products like mobile offices, smart homes, sports and health, audio-visual entertainment, and smart travel products.

The company is also working on bringing its smart TV to India. Named Honor Vision, the TV was displayed at the India Mobile Congress 2019 and planned for launch sometime in the first quarter of this year. But it got delayed, along with other Honor-branded products like laptops, due to coronavirus pandemic, according to Honor India President Charles Peng.