Honor India Product Roadmap Revealed
In an exclusive conversation with Financial Express, Madhav Sheth revealed the next Honor smartphone launch will likely happen by the end of the year. He did not offer details about what to expect from the new launch and at what price point it would be announced.
Sheth added Honor has plans to begin local manufacturing by Q1 2024. He said the company is in talks with three partners but the contracts are yet to be signed. The goal is to shift a significant portion of its portfolio to manufacturing locally in India. The company has already invested Rs 400 crore in setting up operations and distributions for the Honor brand in India.
Honor has a diverse catalogue of foldable smartphones in China and is ready to add a new model. When he was asked about the Honor foldable launch in India, he said at least one foldable is expected to launch in the first half of 2024. This is certainly an exciting announcement but we would suggest not to get too excited just yet. Things can change anytime and the release timeline may even get postponed.
Seth’s product roadmap for Honor is not restricted to launching smartphones and foldable. He also wants to create an ecosystem of products by announcing AIoT products soon. However, a specific release timeline was not shared.
Honor’s future plans also include expanding its footprint in the offline market. Its products will be available for purchase via both online and offline channels. Sheth said expansion in the offline market will happen over a period of time.
When talking about how Honor will differentiate itself in the crowded market, Sheth said many brands in India are offering surrogate products. He specifically named Vivo, iQOO, Samsung Galaxy A/M/F series, Realme, Oppo, and OnePlus which release the same product under a different name and through different channels.
He said, “Both online and offline India is a huge market with a huge population, and you cannot fool this population with surrogate products. The time is now right when consumers need a specific brand and not just surrogate products.” Honor is hoping to become a substantial player in the market by next year.
