Honor aims to break into Vietnam’s top 3 smartphone brands

March 18, 2018 | 21:56
(0) user say
Vietnam’s crowded smartphone market has just became even more cut-throat with the arrival of Huawei Group’s Honor, which debuted last week. The brand also announced strategic collaborations with Vietnamese partners.
honor aims to break into vietnams top 3 smartphone brands
The new brand from China sets out to conquer the highly saturated smartphone market in Vietnam

The new phone series, which are named Honor 9 Lite and Honor 7X are priced between VND5 million and VND7 million ($219 and $306) and mark Honor’s first venture into the booming Vietnamese market. The Huawei-owned smartphone brand did not hide its ambition to become Vietnam’s top 3 smartphone brand in 2020, following Apple and Samsung.

The brand calls itself a “young, fun and innovative partner of young Vietnamese consumers,” targeting the price-conscious and trendy millennials in the ASEAN’s fast-growing economy.

Following the trend, Honor makes sure to emphasise the prowess of its smartphone cameras: competitive dual-lens 13MP + 2MP cameras on both the front and back of the phone.

“Vietnam is one of our key target markets in Southeast Asia, a strategic ground for Honor to continue offering the best state-of-the-art products and innovations," said Akin Li, president of Honor in Southeast Asia.

honor aims to break into vietnams top 3 smartphone brands
Honor reveals the list of its strategic partners from across the globe

To boost its growth in Vietnam, Honor has announced strategic a partnership with Vietnam’s top gaming firm VNG, the distributor of the popular battle royale game Rules of Survival. Other partners include Singapore’s IGG, distributor of real-time strategy game Lords Mobile and the action-packed game inspired by manga series Honkai Impact 3, as well as Bigo Live, an app for live-streaming services.

Honor phones are also available for sale on top e-commerce websites such as Lazada, Shopee or Tiki, with flash sales to attract the first customers.

honor aims to break into vietnams top 3 smartphone brands
Customers try out the new Honor phones

Upon entering Vietnam, Honor and Huawei will have to compete with fellow Chinese rivals such as Oppo, Xiaomi or Vivo. While Oppo goes down the celebrity endorsement route, Xiaomi chose to partner with Digiworld, a domestic distributor, to conquer the Vietnamese market.

According to market research firm GfK, 13.6 million smartphones were sold in Vietnam in the first 11 months of 2017, an increase of 3.1 per cent compared with the same period of 2016. The top selling brands are Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy series, and Oppo.

honor aims to break into vietnams top 3 smartphone brands Huawei to spend $2m on it human resources in Viet Nam

The Huawei Technologies Co Ltd announced that it will spend US$2 million for corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes in Viet Nam, which mainly focuses on ...

honor aims to break into vietnams top 3 smartphone brands Huawei eyes Vietnam

Information, communication and technology giant Huawei is hoping to strengthen its smartphone market share in Vietnam.

honor aims to break into vietnams top 3 smartphone brands Huawei launches three new products in Vietnam

The leading mobile phone manufacturer, Huawei, yesterday officially introduced three new products to the Vietnamese market: smartphone Huawei Ascend G610, smartphone Huawei Y320 and the ...

By Nam Phuong

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional