Report: HUAWEI to sell HONOR to Chinese consortium in multi-billion dollar deal

Huawei plans to offload its Honor smartphone division to a Chinese-based consortium, according to a new report by Reuters. Per the report, citing “people with knowledge of the matter,” a consortium led by distributor Digital China and the Shenzhen government plans to purchase the brand in a deal worth ~$15.2 billion.

That massive figure will reportedly include HONOR’s research and development and distribution units. Notably, the report only mentions the brand’s smartphone division, so it’s unclear if the sale includes HONOR’s other product programs, too.

HUAWEI without HONOR: streamlining its business

News of a potential sale first came to light in October with the likes of TCL and Xiaomi mentioned as potential buyers. Regardless of whoever buys HONOR though, the sale is reportedly key to HUAWEI’s market repositioning.

In the midst of the ongoing US trade restrictions, HUAWEI is now setting its sights on “high-end handsets and corporate-orientated” devices. HUAWEI has seen a steep decline in shipments across key global markets in 2020. A lucrative sale of HONOR will go a long way to immediately recoup some of the firm’s losses.

For HONOR, new ownership could open the firm to a potential US ban exemption, but considering how much of HUAWEI’s tech is ingrained in the brand at present, this seems unlikely. It’s also possible that the US government — even the incoming administration — would clamp down on companies buying any portion of HUAWEI-related businesses, too. Ultimately, an HONOR purchase could be a potentially lucrative deal but poisoned chalice for the wrong bidder.

We may not have long to wait for confirmation. The report alleges HUAWEI could announce the deal as early as Sunday, November 15.

In a request for comment, HONOR told Android Authority that it doesn’t “have any comments on this” for now.

Read more: US-China trade war: Why every Chinese phone maker should prepare for the worst