In February, on the eve of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the largest annual event in the telecommunications industry, held in Barcelona, George Zhao, CEO of the Chinese consumer electronics brand Honor, smiled and showed off the new Honor Magic 6 Pro smart phone during his speech Mobile 25, 2024.
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George Zhao, chief executive of Chinese smartphone company Honor, has resigned for personal reasons, the company said on Friday.
“The company and the board of directors sincerely thank Mr. Zhao for his outstanding contributions to the company during his tenure,” Honor said in a statement.
Li Jian, who has worked at Honor for four years and held multiple senior management positions, will succeed Zhao as CEO.
In an internal memo published by Chinese media and confirmed to be accurate by a Honor spokesperson, Zhao said he was resigning due to health reasons and planned to rest, recover and spend more time with his family.
Zhao called the decision to leave Glory “the most difficult decision” he has ever made.
Honor was spun off from Chinese telecom giant Huawei in 2020 to avoid U.S. sanctions on Huawei’s smartphone business.
Under Zhao’s leadership, Honor has aggressively launched smartphones and focused on international markets. Zhao is focusing on high-end devices, including foldable smartphones, as he hopes Honor can leapfrog China and challenge the likes of Samsung and Apple.
According to data from Counterpoint Research, Honor’s market share in China has increased from 9.8% in 2020 to more than 15% in 2024. Outside China, Honor’s market share will reach 2.3% by 2024, compared with less than 1% in 2020.
The company hopes to keep pace with competitors by rolling out artificial intelligence features on its devices.
Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research, said the company will likely continue to focus on high-end equipment and technology under new leadership.
“If Honor wants to continue to build brand equity and points of differentiation from existing competitors, the brand should continue to focus on premiumization, especially in high-end markets like Europe,” Shah told CNBC.
“A focus on innovative foldable designs and advanced artificial intelligence capabilities as well as close collaboration with leading parts suppliers will be key.”
Zhao’s successor Li will be responsible for efforts to expand Honor’s overseas influence amid fierce competition, with a focus on increasing the brand’s visibility.
Counterpoint’s Shah said that outside China, “a lot of people don’t understand honor.” “Building brand equity is very difficult, and companies need more time, money and points of differentiation.”
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