Since being spun off from Huawei Technologies nearly five years ago, Chinese smartphone brand Honor has officially begun its IPO process.
Honor Device Co., Ltd. has filed for IPO counseling, according to information published on the website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on June 26. Honor will complete its IPO counseling between January and March 2026, with CITIC Securities serving as its counseling broker.
IPO counseling refers to the standardized training, guidance, and supervision provided to companies preparing to go public, with a focus on regulating corporate operations and improving corporate governance. Generally, only after successfully completing and passing the counseling process can a company proceed to the next stage of the IPO—submission and regulatory review.
Honor began as a sub-brand of Huawei Technologies’ smartphones launched in 2013, adopting a Xiaomi-style internet smartphone business model. At one point, it captured nearly 17% of the Chinese market share. In 2020, the US government twice escalated sanctions against Huawei, blocking Huawei’s access to advanced manufacturing processes, especially 5G chips, after September 15, 2020. In November 2020, Huawei decided to spin off Honor, partly to raise funds and partly to sever ties so that Honor could “find its own path.”
In November 2023, Honor changed its chairman and clarified that the company would pursue an IPO, planning to introduce diversified capital. In August 2024, Honor announced it would initiate a shareholding reform in Q4 of the year and launch the IPO process at an appropriate time, subsequently bringing in China Mobile as a financial investor.
Since December 2024, Honor has actively brought in state-owned and large institutional investors. Currently, it has over 20 shareholders, including Shenzhen Intelligent Precision Instruments, Guosen Capital, China Mobile, China Telecom, and BOE. The controlling shareholder is Shenzhen Inteillgent Precision Instruments, which currently directly holds a 49.55% stake.
After the product launch on May 29 this year, Honor’s CFO Peng Qiuwen said that Honor had completed its shareholding reform by the end of 2024 and had engaged relevant institutions to begin IPO preparations, with the listing process to be launched at the appropriate time.
On the business front, Honor urgently needs to consolidate its market share. According to market research firm Canalys, Honor’s smartphone shipments declined 3% in 2024, with a 15% market share in China’s smartphone market, ranking fifth and down one percentage point from the previous year. Meanwhile, vivo and Huawei recorded growth rates of 11% and 37%, respectively, while Apple and OPPO saw declines of 17% and 3%, respectively.
Facing sales pressure, Honor’s first CEO Zhao Ming announced his resignation in January this year. Zhao’s successor Li Jian joined Huawei in 2001, holding positions such as head of Nigeria and Ghana offices, president of West Africa region, president of Northeast Europe region, president of the Americas region, and president of the Europe region. Before joining Honor, Li also served as a supervisor of Huawei and was a member of Huawei’s cadre management team.
On May 28, Li Jian made his domestic debut at a press conference. He said that Honor had established three first-level departments: New Business Model Development, Brand Marketing, and Consumer Insight & Experience, while strengthening the existing Strategy Department. In addition, Li reorganized the product and R&D departments, newly forming AIOS, AI Hardware, and AI Platform departments.
Wang Ban, Honor’s President of Sales and Services, said that the goal is to return to the top three in the Chinese market by the end of this year.
At the beginning of this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), Honor declared its transformation into an AI terminal ecosystem company and announced a plan to invest over $10 billion in AI over the next five years. One noteworthy move this month was Honor’s strategic AI terminal cooperation agreement with China Mobile. The two parties will jointly develop a deeply customized AI smartphone product based on the Honor X70i model—marking the first time a smartphone manufacturer has reached such a partnership with a telecom operator.
During his keynote at this month’s MWC Shanghai, Li Jian said that AI implementation requires two key pillars: hardware and agents. Hardware serves as the core carrier, while agents are the primary access point. As smartphones are the hardware devices with the broadest user reach, the companies behind them see AI as the next opportunity they must seize.
Currently, the A-share market includes listed AI-related companies in areas such as chips, voice recognition, and computer vision—but lacks a representative company for AI terminal ecosystems. By initiating its IPO counseling, Honor is positioning itself to become the first public company focused on the AI terminal ecosystem.