By Charles Peng, President, Huawei India Device Business Group

At the outset, let me take the opportunity to express my happiness to be associated with India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2018. Honor brings along the ‘AI Life’ theme to IMC this year. With a plethora of smartphones that heralded the AI revolution in India, Honor is always looking to contribute to India’s Digital Life. Alongside this, we are extremely happy to showcase our latest Kirin 980 processor which has already generated rave reviews globally.

When Honor arrived in India just a few years ago, India was already on the verge of the smartphone renaissance which was soon going to make the country one of the most important telecom markets in the world. Back in the days when Honor just started its India sojourn, we were relatively lesser known in this land and often got associated with our parent company Huawei. Like all global brands, we also had our initial hiccups and struggles to establish a self-sustaining name in a new market; but we braved those troubled times and now Honor has emerged as one of the most promising smartphone brands in India. So what made it possible? Hard work, yes! Dedicated customer service, yes! Constant innovation, yes!

But there is one more side to Honor’s India story which I would like to share with you all today. Alongside our never ending quest for innovation and customer satisfaction, Honor was equally aware that until we succeeded in finding a place in the Indian psyche as a whole, our journey would not be complete. Therefore, our objective was to plan and execute every venture and initiative with the India First strategy. Our motto is two-fold – focusing on delivering world class products while giving equal attention to the pulse of the country we are functioning in.

As a part of our India First strategy, Honor is happy to share with you all that we already have a manufacturing plant in Chennai in which started manufacturing and assembling in 2015. Almost all our devices like Honor 9Lite, Honor 7X, Honor 9N, Honor Play and Honor 8X – are now being locally manufactured. Apart from creating opportunities for skilled locals, our Chennai plant is a testimony to our support to the Indian Government’s Make In India initiative.

Then in October 2018, we opened a new office in Bangalore in addition to our India headquarters in Gurgaon. These are very important elements of Honor’s commitment to be a part of India’s economic growth. Our Indian colleagues constitute a very vital part of our operations in the country and we always believe in cultural assimilation and productive co-existence. And we are not done yet! During the launch of our latest device Honor 8X, we formally invited the brightest minds of the country to join us for an enriching and vibrant work experience.

Every journey starts with a single step and with constant moving forward we attain greatness and glory in due course of time. This is true in case of Honor’s India story. Today Honor has made a mark in the Indian smartphone arena and has successfully established a unique identity as a global smartphone brand that understands the native vibes and preferences. Honor knew that the young Indians are extremely tech savvy; so we invested big in innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. India is a country of vibrant colours and beautiful architectures; so we worked hard on our design ideology to woo the young and brave of the country. And the outcome was simply awe-inspiring.

Honor phones are known for their aesthetic appeal, unique colours and cutting edge technology. Here I would like to mention about Honor’s path-breaking contribution towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) in smartphones. We made AI a reality with the launch of Honor View 10. It was further enhanced with our flagship device Honor 10 which is a global best-seller. We continued our stint with enhanced AI with Honor Play and Honor 8X. This is only the tip of the iceberg and for now, I can just tell that Honor will come with more AI related innovations in the future.

Like I mentioned earlier, Honor has struck a perfect balance between producing world class devices and keeping a tab on the Indian milieu. Thanks to this equilibrium, Honor has recorded a staggering 400% growth from January 2018 to September 2018. But we are not getting complacent; we have already set the bar higher. By the end of 2018, Honor is expecting an astounding 500% growth in India. This feat is supported by IDC Quarterly Smartphone Tracker which has declared Honor as the fastest growing smartphone brand in India. Such success stories always push us to go the extra mile and achieve more. Now, Honor’s mission is to be the No.1 smartphone brand in India in 3 years.

With success and accolades, comes a greater sense of responsibility towards the community and Honor is well aware of that. But with our India First vision, we believe that the sky is the only limit.