Honor made a comeback in India last year with the launch of Honor X9b. The company had to exit India following geopolitical tensions between the US and China, which had a huge impact on its parent company Huawei. Google services were withdrawn from Huawei and Honor phones and their operations were largely restricted to China. However, Honor separated from Huawei in 2020, and rebranded itself as HTech. Honor returned to the Indian market in 2023. Since then, the brand has launched three phones in India, including the Honor X9B (Review), Honor 200, and Honor 200 Pro. Last week the company launched its fourth phone Honor 200 Lite.

The Honor 200 Lite is the company’s first phone in the Indian market after its comeback, which is priced under Rs 20,000. This is interesting because Honor is clearly rebranding itself – not only as a new independent brand, but also in terms of its position in the market. “Honor is no longer a value-for-money brand,” Madhav Sheth, CEO of HTech, told India Today Tech. Till now, Honor was known for bringing premium features in the budget segment. But the company has a new strategy and is now focusing on the higher segment – ​​from mid-segment to premium.

This switch has obviously been challenging for the company. The company’s CEO says the rebranding was “extremely difficult”. “I’ve been getting a lot of feedback from consumers,” says Sheth. The reason: Consumers are already skeptical of the brand due to its previous exits, and now Honor is shifting its target audience. However, Sheth says he is determined to bring the brand out of Huawei’s shadow. We sat down for an interview with Sheth, and he talked at length about the struggles of building a brand starting not from scratch but from negative levels.

“We are not dealing with a brand that is at zero, rather it is a brand that is receiving negative attitudes.” However, Sheth shared his intention to make Honor one of the top 5 brands and the “most stable brand” in India in the next five years. But Sheth says he refuses to compromise consumer trust to achieve that goal. “Technology is important for Indian consumers” but “the biggest factor is trust”.

Unlike other brands in India who are “mocking the system” and “misleading the consumer”, “we are going to build the foundation right and build a strong Honor ecosystem in India”. “We will do it the right way,” Sheth says.

Interestingly, here Sheth echoes something we have also written about in terms of how many brands in India are cloning their devices under different names, reselling products with minor variations in different price segments. are launching, and at the end of the day, under the guise of giving the user more options, they are merely confusing them. Sheth agreed. “The approach of brands nowadays is oligopolistic”. “At face value it may seem like consumers have more choices but companies are just confusing them,” he says.

“As far as companies are concerned, they have made a mockery of the compliance system…and they have also made a mockery of AI.” “They are using AI as a gimmick and fooling consumers,” says the CEO of Htech. He further adds, “There is no ethical standardization of AI-like features, so they can be used as existing or legacy technologies. Repackaging AI features as new.”

“Like in 2018, there was a race to see who would offer more camera pixels with options for 64-megapixel and 108-megapixel cameras. Now there is a race to incorporate AI features.” “Brands need to be more responsible,” comments Sheth.

“With respect, the value proposition we offer is a complete package”. “We are still getting a response, but I am sure consumers will soon realize our price-specification ratio,” says Sheth, adding that he admits the company is still a “work in progress.” .

Madhav Sheth also shared with us the company’s plans to launch “the best foldable phone under Rs 1,00,000 in India.” Apparently it will also be the “thinnest” in the segment. Sheth also confirmed that the Honor V2 foldable will be launched in India next, most likely this year, and will be followed by the Honor V3 foldable. Sheth also told India Today Tech that the successor to the Honor X9b will also be launched in India soon.

And to top it all, Sheth also revealed his ambitious plans to make Honor the only Indian smartphone company to go for a public IPO.

For a company that has nothing to lose, Sheth dreams of plans that aim to not only regain Honor’s lost ground in India but also propel the brand into a new era of innovation and global recognition. Have to push in.