Huawei is reportedly preparing a second smartphone brand to reach more buyers and support sales volumes that its main business may struggle to generate on its own. The move follows the company’s decision to sell Honor in November 2020, when it transferred the subsidiary to a consortium of Chinese distributors. The sale allowed Honor to source Western chips and components without Huawei’s sanctions burden, but left Huawei without a brand focused on the mid-range market and high-volume sales.
The latest supply-chain leaks suggest the new brand could be called Xingyao, a name translated as “starlight,” or Starburst. Early image registrations reportedly show metallic-effect lettering reminiscent of Honor’s earlier branding. The phones are said to be sold exclusively online, a strategy that could reduce intermediaries and help control prices. However, the reports do not suggest bargain-basement pricing, citing unusually high component costs amid a memory shortage.
Rather than beginning with a conventional low-cost phone, the brand may target the passport-style form factor that has attracted attention in Huawei’s foldable lineup. According to Digital Chat Station, a device provisionally called the O1 Pro could offer an experience similar to the Huawei Pura X View, with a flat 6.39-inch LTPS display, a 16:9.5 aspect ratio, 1.5K resolution and 1.05 mm bezels. The panel would reportedly lack LTPO adaptive refresh.
Other reported specifications include a Kirin 9020 processor, 12GB or 16GB of RAM and storage options from 256GB to 1TB. The phone is also said to have a 50-megapixel rear camera and a purple-accented power button. Its battery could exceed 7,000 mAh, with support for 100W fast charging.
Huawei executive Richard Yu has said the company plans to bring its LogicFolding architecture to more phones. A more accessible brand could help expand the audience for Huawei’s Kirin chips and HarmonyOS ecosystem, though neither the brand nor the reported device has been officially confirmed.
Sources: Xataka Móvil.