Skip to main content

Huawei tries something new, relaunches the Honor 6 smartphone without the Huawei name

Huawei has re-announced the Honor 6 smartphone, and is using it to spearhead a new campaign to break into the European market. The phone, originally launched back in June, will be sold through a few online retailers, and the hihonor.com online store, which is operated by Huawei. The company is relegating its own name to the background, and seems to be promoting the Honor brand instead.

It’s not the first time Huawei has considered altering its name to improve awareness in international markets. Rival Chinese brand ZTE has also toyed with the same idea using its Nubia brand name. While the Huawei name has become better known over the past year, it still doesn’t have the same recognition as Samsung, LG, or HTC. That doesn’t mean Honor will save it though, as any prospective buyers in the UK will look at the name and wonder why someone has spelled “Honour” incorrectly.

Back to the phone. The Honor 6 doesn’t have a 6-inch display, as the name suggests, but a 5-inch panel with a 1080p resolution. One of Huawei’s own 1.3GHz, octa-core Kirin 920 chips powers the device, and it drives Android 4.4 with the Emotion UI over the top. There’s an impressive 3GB of RAM to assist the processor, and the phone comes with 16GB of internal memory, plus a MicroSD card expansion slot.

A 13-megapixel camera sits on the rear, and a 5-megapixel selfie cam is fitted above the screen. Both have the ability to shoot panoramic photos. The phone’s chassis is very slim at 6.5mm, and the whole device weighs 135 grams, making it very compact for the size of the screen. Huawei claims it has a 75.7 percent screen-to-body ratio, meaning the bezels around the screen are relatively slim. For comparison, this slightly improves on the similarly sized LG G3 Beat’s 74.1 percent ratio.

Huawei has priced the Honor 6 very competitively. It’s £250 (that’s about $400) without a contract through Amazon in the UK, and should cost around 270 euros throughout Europe. Huawei hasn’t launched the Honor 6 in America, but it has tested a similar strategy with the Ascend Mate 2.

Editors' Recommendations

Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Google and Huawei offer to pay owners up to $400 for Nexus 6P bootloop fault
Huawei Nexus 6P

Google and Huawei are offering to fork out a combined $9.75 million to resolve a class action lawsuit against them by owners of the Nexus 6P. The settlement, which needs to be agreed to by the court before it goes into effect, centers around the bootloop issue that caused afflicted phones to randomly restart regardless of battery level. The lawsuit alleges that Google's and Huawei's actions were in breach of the device's warranty, and claims that although both companies were aware of the bug, neither took steps to publicly acknowledge it or stop selling devices which could potentially fall prey to the problem.

The court is set to decide on the proposal on May 9, and this means that anyone that purchased a Nexus 6P in the U.S. on or before September 25, 2015 may be able to make their own claim. If that describes you, then details of how to make your claim can be found in the notice document. Keep in mind that eligibility for the claim is fairly rigorous, and only those who are able to put forward the proper documentation of the bug are likely to get close to the $400 limit. Those without paperwork proving the bug will likely only be eligible for up to $75, while those who took up Google's offer of a Pixel XL in replacement will only be eligible for up to $10. Still, that's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Read more
With Huawei’s help, Honor aims to be world’s fourth-largest smartphone brand
Honor View 20 review

George Zhao, president of smartphone brand Honor, has shared some of the company’s major goals for the future, calling them part of a “new strategic direction.” Announced by Huawei Consumer Business Group’s CEO Richard Yu, the goals not only show Honor’s plan for the coming years, but also how committed Huawei is to being a part of its success. During 2018, rumors spread of a possible split between the two companies, with Honor striking out alone. Although denied by both groups, Zhao and Yu’s most recent statements further show how closely together the two are working.

Yu’s intention, which he has repeatedly stated, is for Huawei to be the world’s No. 1 smartphone manufacturer. Honor’s target is now to become the world’s fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer globally, and the second largest in China. This isn’t the first time lofty goals for Honor have been publicly stated. In 2017, Zhao said in an interview the plan was to be in the top five manufacturers within three years, and top three in five years. It further stated these goals at the beginning of 2019, when it also revealed a new logo and mission statement. Now, it seems Huawei and Honor has split the difference and settled on fourth.

Read more
OnePlus 6T vs. Honor View 20: We compare the cameras in these ‘flagship killers’
oneplus 6t vs honor view 20 camera shootout feat

We don’t want to alarm you, but we can see smoke, and a lick of flame coming out of your wallet. It looks like the $500 or so inside needs, no wants, to be spent, and there are two smartphones vying for your attention around this price — the OnePlus 6T and Honor View 20.

You have probably heard these two described as premium midrange smartphones or "flagship killers," with the reasonable price being a highlight. The thing is, both these phones are shrewd buys, loved by those who smirk at $1,000 price tags on devices that don’t really offer much more.

Read more