Honor taking over South Africa

Chinese tech firm Honor has continued to show astounding growth in South Africa in the past year.

The company told MyBroadband that its smartphone sales increased 150% year-on-year in 2024, based on data from market research company GfK.

That comes off the back of already impressive numbers in 2023.

Honor South Africa CEO, Fred Zhou, previously told MyBroadband that the company’s sales grew “more or less” 600% between the start of and end of 2023.

According to Counterpoint Research, the company went from having almost no smartphone market share in South Africa in 2022 to becoming the second best-selling brand overall.

Alongside other Chinese brands, it cut into long-time leader Samsung’s market share, which declined 6% during 2023.

In the last quarter of 2023, Honor surpassed Samsung’s sales with an impressive 24% market share, whereas the South Korean tech firm only accounted for 14% of the smartphones sold.

Honor has continued to make significant gains in South Africa in 2024, selling over two and a half times the number of devices it did last year.

The company told MyBroadband that the Honor X6a was its top-selling smartphone in the prepaid segment.

Priced at R2,499, this budget model boasts a 6.56-inch display, 128GB storage, 4GB RAM, 5,200mAh battery with 22.5W charging, and a triple camera with a main 50MP lens.

In postpaid, the Honor 200 Lite was its best performer.

This mid-ranger boasts a 6.7-inch OLED display with 90Hz refresh rate, 256GB storage, 8GB RAM, and a triple camera headlined by a 108MP shooter.

Analysis by GFK showed this model was the best-selling smartphone at physical stores in South Africa in July 2024, accounting for nearly one in every ten smartphones sold.

Its impressive performance helped Honor become the second best-selling brand in the local postpaid market for the year.

MyBroadband asked South Africa’s major mobile networks, which are key to Honor’s sales success, how the brand has performed among their customers.

MTN South Africa also confirmed that its Honor smartphone sales experienced significant growth in 2024 compared to 2023.

The mobile network attributed this to Honor’s strategic investment in the market, particularly in addressing device affordability.

“By providing high-quality devices at accessible price points, Honor has effectively met the needs of a broad customer base,” MTN South Africa said.

MTN said the top-selling Honor devices among its customers were the Honor 90 Lite, Honor 200 Lite, Honor X7b, and Honor X9b.

Telkom’s sales data showed it sold 23,108 Honor smartphones between January and November 2024.

That means that South Africa’s third-biggest mobile network sold about 70 Honor smartphones per day.

Cell C also told MyBroadband that the brand’s sell-out run rate among its customers had increased substantially compared to 2023.

“Both brand equity and market share have achieved double-digit growth,” Cell C said.

“Honor’s competitive value offering and product specifications have solidified its reputation as a reliable and trusted smartphone brand.

“Additionally, increased above-the-line marketing initiatives,
campaign engagements and nationwide field team representation has further strengthened its market position.”

The Honor 200 Lite and X7b were the most popular with Cell C customers.

Cutting its Huawei links

In the next year, Honor plans to launch new smartphones across its Magic, Number, and X Series in South Africa.

It will also continuously roll out other devices like laptops, tablets, earphones, and watches to provide consumers with a full-scenario interconnected product.

Honor was previously part of Huawei, which the company launched as its mid-range smartphone subbrand in 2013. Initially, its devices were mostly sold online.

Honor debuted in South Africa in 2018 but did not see much traction, potentially because Huawei had already rolled out its own affordable smartphones, and its name carried far more weight among South African consumers.

Honor was spun off and sold to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology in November 2020 after the US placed Huawei on a list of entities with which US companies were not allowed do business.

While Honor’s new owner is majority-owned and controlled by the Shenzhen municipal government, the brand is not involved in network infrastructure like Huawei, which was the US government’s primary point of concern.

Its separation has enabled Honor to continue using Google Mobile Services and Google apps on its devices, unlike Huawei smartphones.

In addition, Honor can use the latest smartphone processors and other hardware from US companies or firms using US tech, including the dominant phone chip designer Qualcomm.

Honor relaunched as an independent brand in South Africa about a year after it was spun off.

Honor South Africa CEO at the time, Kelvin Cao, told MyBroadband the company had a long-term investment plan in the market, which it regarded as one of its top 10 priority locations.

Evidently, that plan has started to pay dividends, with Honor quickly approaching the position that its former parent once held.