The National - News

HONOR FORECASTS DOUBLE REVENUE IN MEA

The Chinese smartphone maker says arrest of parent company Huawei’s CFO unlikely to have effect

- ALKESH SHARMA

Honor, a unit of China’s technology company Huawei, aims to double its revenues in the Middle East and Africa next year and is unaffected by the detention of a top executive of its parent company.

This year “saw some exciting launches that will continue to help us augment our MEA market share in 2019,” Chris Sunbaigong, president of Honor MEA, told The National.

“We are targeting to capture at least 15 to 20 per cent of the overall regional market share, in terms of smartphone shipments next year.”

Honor, whose smartphone­s compete with Oppo and Samsung, recorded more than fivefold growth in the UAE market in the first 10 months of 2018.

“We are currently number four in this region and our aim is to feature among the top three brands by the end of next year,” said Mr Sunbaigong.

Honor devices drove Huawei sales to new highs this year, helping the company surpass Apple for the first time to take up second position globally, according to Internatio­nal Data Corporatio­n.

Beyond the UAE, Honor’s best performing markets include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq and South Africa, said Mr Sunbaigong.

The company is looking next year “for steady expansion” in Oman, Kuwait and North African countries such as Morocco and Tunisia.

On Tuesday the company rolled out its Honor 10 Lite phone in Dubai following its debut in China. Customers can pre-order the phone, which costs Dh799, and will be delivered starting from December 20.

Honor 8X, a phone tailored for the millennial generation and in the market since October, has significan­tly increased the company’s MEA market share, said Mr Sunbaigong.

The “majority of MEA’s population is millennial­s – our main target. They are very discerning about technology and innovation.

Therefore, we prioritise the preference­s of this region while launching any product in the market.”

Honor is selling its products through key retailers in the Middle East and the company is considerin­g its own showrooms in the region in the future.

“Based on our business volume, we will obviously make more investment and have more people on board in the region,” he said.

The ongoing trade war between the United States and China and the detention of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, in Canada earlier this month will not affect Honor’s business, Mr Sunbaigong said.

“As part of Huawei Group, we are following all trade laws and regulation­s … with Europe, Americas and the UN. So I don’t see any kind of [adverse] impact in future. From the operationa­l point of view, there has been no impact of that incident [CFO’s arrest] on our business.”

Ms Meng was detained on December 1 by Canada at the request of the US for allegedly conspiring to defraud American banks and violating sanctions related to doing business in Iran.

The arrest of Ms Meng, the daughter of the founder of Huawei, rattled markets and raised questions about a temporary detente between Washington and Beijing that was announced at the G20 summit.

The reconcilia­tion was expected to pause the trade war that was forecast to escalate in January.

Washington had planned to raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 per cent from 10 per cent next month.

Ms Meng, 46, is out on bail and has to stay in Vancouver, awaiting a possible extraditio­n to the US where, if convicted, she faces 30 years in jail.

She has denied any wrongdoing and Huawei has vehemently backed the executive.

We are number four in this region and our aim is to feature among the top three brands by the end of next year

 ?? Leslie Pableo for The National ?? Chris Sun Baigong at the launch of Honor 10 lite at Five Palm Jumeirah Hotel yesterday
Leslie Pableo for The National Chris Sun Baigong at the launch of Honor 10 lite at Five Palm Jumeirah Hotel yesterday

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Arab Emirates