Huawei Puts Honor Above Android at New Smartphone Launch

"No matter what happens, no matter what kind of challenges ... just smile and overcome them," George Zhao told the audience.

By Reuters | Updated: 22 May 2019 11:10 IST

Huawei Puts Honor Above Android at New Smartphone Launch

President of Honor, George Zhao, launches the Honor 20 range of smartphones at an event in London

Huawei put uncertainty over the future of its devices business to one side on Tuesday with the launch of new Honor smartphones, in a confident display of the Chinese firm's technology.

The world's second-biggest phone maker runs its devices on Google's Android platform outside China, but the US Commerce Department blocked Huawei from buying US goods last week, throwing future software updates into question.

The United States temporarily eased restrictions on Huawei on Tuesday, granting it a licence to buy US goods until August 19, meaning that updates of Google apps like Gmail and YouTube can continue until then.

George Zhao, president of Huawei's youth-focused brand Honor, told hundreds of reporters, bloggers and analysts that he was "really happy to see so many friends".

"No matter what happens, no matter what kind of challenges ... just smile and overcome them," he told the audience, a mantra that could apply equally to Huawei as to its young customers.

"We will talk and communicate with the world using our products, technology and innovation," he added, as he showed off the Honor 20 Pro, which features four rear cameras, including wide-angle and telephoto, and a 48-megapixel main camera.

Francisco Jeronimo, associate VP for devices at IDC, said Honor had been successful for Huawei with an appeal that went way beyond the young customer they were targeting.

"It is a very important brand for them to address lower price points without damaging the Huawei brand. But with the decision on Sunday, everything changes. There are many questions that no-one can answer yet," Jeronimo said.

Zhao highlighted a triple-layer back panel that gives an illusion of depth to colours such as "Phantom Blue" and "Phantom Black" on the 20 Pro.

A Huawei spokesman said the smartphones had already been certified by Google before it announced any restrictions.

The Honor 20 Pro will soon be available at a price of EUR 599 ($669), Zhao said, while the Honor 20 and Honor 20 Lite, would retail at EUR 499 and EUR 299 respectively.

© Thomson Reuters 2019

Honor 20 Pro

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display 6.26-inch

Processor HiSilicon Kirin 980

Front Camera 32-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 16-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 256GB

Battery Capacity 4000mAh

OS Android 9 Pie

Resolution 1080x2340 pixels

More Honor mobiles Honor mobiles price in India

Honor 20

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Super performance
Excellent battery life
Attractive design
Lots of camera features

Bad
Inconsistent camera performance
Lacks fast charging

Read detailed Honor 20 review

Display 6.26-inch

Front Camera 32-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 16-megapixel + 2-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 6GB

Storage 128GB

Battery Capacity 3750mAh

OS Android 9 Pie

Resolution 1080x2340 pixels

More Honor mobiles Honor mobiles price in India

Honor 20 Lite

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display 6.21-inch

Processor HiSilicon Kirin 710

Front Camera 32-megapixel

Rear Camera 24-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel

RAM 4GB

Storage 128GB

Battery Capacity 3400mAh

OS Android 9.0 Pie

Resolution 1080x2340 pixels

More Honor mobiles Honor mobiles price in India

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