HONOR expands overseas in 2025: Scale, portfolio, and regional dynamics

Omdia view

Summary

HONOR’s overseas business has become a core pillar of growth driven by strong shipment growth, a mid-to-high-end focus, and a stratified regional strategy across Europe, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, and South-Eastern Asia. Sustaining momentum will depend on its managing supply risks, deepening localization, and monetizing AI-led services beyond hardware.

Increasing role of overseas markets in HONOR’s business

HONOR’s overseas shipments recorded approximately 55% year-on-year growth in 1Q–3Q25. Among the top 10 global vendors, HONOR recorded the strongest overseas growth in the first three quarters of 2025, reflecting the growing contribution of international markets to its business.

HONOR’s international business has undergone a fundamental transition over the past five years. At the beginning of 2021, overseas shipments accounted for less than 10% of global volume; by 3Q25, this figure had risen to nearly half. This structural shift marks a clear strategic inflection point: overseas operations are evolving from a marginal source of incremental volume into a core pillar supporting scale, geographic diversification, and long-term operational resilience.

Against this backdrop, headline shipment growth alone does not fully capture the underlying dynamics of HONOR’s overseas performance. A more detailed examination of regional market contributions, product positioning, and go-to-market execution is required to assess the sustainability and quality of this international expansion.

Figure 1: With overseas shipments growing 55% in 1Q–3Q25, HONOR is establishing itself as a global smartphone player Source: Omdia

Mid-to-high-segment focus with aligned go-to-market approach

In overseas markets, HONOR has concentrated on the mid-to-high-end segment as a strategic focus. In many emerging overseas markets, incremental demand continues to be concentrated in the sub‑$200 segment, which has become highly competitive and structurally margin constrained. While many Chinese vendors remain heavily skewed toward the entry-level tier, HONOR has prioritized the $300–499 price segment, which accounted for around 23% of its overseas shipments in the first three quarters of 2025, the highest proportion among major Chinese vendors. This positioning places greater emphasis on disciplined branding, channel execution, and product differentiation.

HONOR’s progress in this segment reflects a coordinated go-to-market approach across channels, products, and marketing:

• Channel: Deepened engagement with branded retail stores and key account partners enhances control over consumer touch points and brand presentation.
• Product: Product development is closely integrated with local consumer insights. In many markets, HONOR products are known for their battery life and durability; examples include X9d, HONOR 400, and Magic V5.
• Marketing: AI feature education is driven beyond media exposure and embedded at the channel level with in-store demonstrations at branded stores and major retailers accelerating consumer adoption of AI functionalities.

Figure 2: HONOR’s overseas ASP reflects its premium-focused strategy in global market expansion Source: Omdia

A stratified regional approach to overseas expansion

At the regional level, HONOR’s overseas business has a clearly stratified footprint:

• Europe anchors HONOR’s overseas premiumization strategy. In 1Q–3Q25, HONOR maintained a top-five position in core Western European markets such as the UK and France. The Magic V5, differentiated by its slim design, battery endurance, and comprehensive AI features, helped HONOR secure second place in Western Europe’s book-style foldable segment. Meanwhile, HONOR continues to invest in channel expansion and brand building in Central and Eastern Europe, where shipments increased by 15% in 1Q–3Q25, indicating growing market traction in the region.
• Latin America remains the shipment backbone, and HONOR consolidated its core presence in Mexico and Central America while expanding opportunities across Latin American markets.
• Middle East & Africa has emerged as the primary incremental growth engine, and total shipments volume approached that of Latin America. HONOR continues to strengthen its premium channel presence in the Middle East, while South Africa has seen rapid growth supported by strong operator partnerships and localized product specifications.
• South-Eastern Asia is shaping up as the next growth frontier, supported by the gradual buildout of local manufacturing and channel capabilities. HONOR’s flagship models have gained notable traction in the region in 2025.

Figure 3: Latin America serves as HONOR’s core overseas volume contributor Source: Omdia

Table 1: Latin America, HONOR key market performance, YTD 3Q25

Source: Omdia

HONOR’s focus on Latin America reflects a strong alignment between its go-to-market capabilities and the region’s operator-led channel structure. Core markets such as Mexico and Central America are dominated by telco partnerships, an area where HONOR has accumulated substantial experience. This foundation provides a relatively high degree of execution certainty and supports scalable expansion. While Mexico and Central America continue to anchor regional operations, countries such as Ecuador have emerged as incremental growth drivers as HONOR broadens distribution and deepens local partnerships. Smaller markets, including parts of the Caribbean, are also becoming increasingly relevant contributors, improving the overall resilience of the regional footprint. Looking ahead, Latin America offers not only near-term growth visibility but also favorable structural tailwinds. The 2026 FIFA World Cup, cohosted by the US, Mexico, and Canada, is likely to stimulate consumer demand and telco-led promotional activity, creating a supportive environment for HONOR to further consolidate its presence and advance gradual portfolio up-trading.

Figure 4: The Middle East was HONOR’s key growth engine in 2025 Source: Omdia

Table 2: Middle East, HONOR key market performance, YTD 3Q25

Source: Omdia

HONOR’s momentum in the Middle East is underpinned by a focus on premium-oriented channels and go-to-market execution. The region’s relatively high purchasing power and well-developed retail infrastructure make it conducive to ASP expansion, aligning well with HONOR’s broader premiumization strategy. HONOR has prioritized deep cooperation with operators, national electronics retailers, and branded retail formats to strengthen brand visibility and pricing control, particularly in core Gulf Cooperation Council markets. At the same time, selected frontier markets have provided incremental growth opportunities as distribution coverage expands. From a portfolio perspective, HONOR has positioned the midrange segment as the primary volume driver while using flagship products to reinforce brand credentials within premium channels. This approach is further supported by in-store AI demonstrations and experiential retail initiatives, including flagship stores and dedicated demo areas, which enhance consumer engagement and help translate product differentiation into tangible ASP uplift and sustainable regional growth.

Figure 5: HONOR is building its next growth curve in South-Eastern Asia Source: Omdia

Table 3: South-Eastern Asia, HONOR key market performance, YTD 3Q25

Source: Omdia

HONOR is positioning South-Eastern Asia as its next growth frontier through a combination of localization and channel buildout. Indonesia plays a strategic role in this effort: HONOR has invested in local production, improving supply resilience, cost structure, and alignment with regulatory requirements in the region’s largest market. In parallel, Malaysia serves as a key brand and service hub. The opening of flagship retail stores and the expansion of service centers underscore HONOR’s intent to strengthen consumer touch points, aftersales capability, and brand trust in more mature South-Eastern Asian markets. As South-Eastern Asian demand for smartphones continues to evolve toward higher expectations around quality, service, and experience, HONOR’s emphasis on localized operations and channel depth provides a foundation for sustainable scale expansion and gradual ASP growth.

Key challenges and opportunities for sustaining overseas growth

HONOR has delivered phased progress in its global expansion, but sustaining this momentum will require it to navigate a more complex operating environment. On the supply side, increasing NAND and DRAM prices introduce cost and availability risks. Although higher overseas ASPs partially mitigate margin pressure, HONOR’s smaller scale relative to leading global vendors limits its bargaining power, potentially constraining supply flexibility, particularly for midrange models with higher memory specifications.

Meanwhile, AI remains an important element of HONOR’s overseas strategy. Operating within Google’s ecosystem constrains differentiation, increasing the importance of localized AI experiences. The key question is whether HONOR can convert its growing overseas user base into sustainable service-driven revenue.

At the same time, emerging markets represent the next leg of overseas growth but come with higher cost sensitivity and stricter localization requirements. HONOR has begun local manufacturing initiatives in markets such as Indonesia and Bangladesh in 2025, but these efforts remain at an early stage. Compared with peers that operate mature, large-scale overseas manufacturing ecosystems, HONOR still has limited local capacity, which may weigh on cost optimization and operational agility as volumes expand.

Overall, HONOR’s medium-term growth upside lies in two areas: unlocking underpenetrated emerging markets overseas and further monetizing its premium foundation in Europe and the Middle East through AI-led services and ecosystem expansion. These will require sustained investment, localized execution, and clear monetization pathways beyond hardware.

Appendix

Author

Lucas Zhong, Analyst, Consumer Smartphone

[email protected]