Honor Targets Samsung In Bid To Become South Africa’s No. 1 Smartphone Brand By 2028

Honor has set its sights on becoming South Africa’s leading smartphone brand within the next two years, relying on a wider retail footprint, flexible payment options and devices aimed at different income levels.

Honor South Africa country manager Fred Zhou said the company currently ranked second in the local smartphone market and was working to close the gap with the market leader.

“Right now, in the smartphone field in South Africa, we are ranking number two,” Zhou said in an interview with Cape Talk. “Just two years ago, we announced we want to become number one in 2028.”

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“We are narrowing the gap between us and the leader in the industry. We are the challengers, we keep fighting for that spot.”

Zhou did not identify the brand currently occupying the top position, although Samsung is widely recognised as one of South Africa’s strongest smartphone brands.

Honor has expanded its South African portfolio beyond smartphones to include tablets, laptops, wearables, audio products and Internet of Things devices.

Distribution Key To Honor’s Growth Strategy

Zhou said expanding access to Honor products was central to the company's ambition.

The company has partnerships with major network operators including Vodacom, MTN, Telkom and Cell C, allowing consumers to purchase its devices through mobile contracts rather than paying the full cost upfront.

Honor has also expanded its retail presence through national chains including Ackermans, Pep, The Foschini Group and Edgars.

Some of these retailers offer payment arrangements that allow customers to spread the cost of devices over time.

“Consumers can always choose to divide the payment into different terms, so they can still have access to premium, middle, and high-end phones,” Zhou said.

The strategy is designed to make Honor devices accessible across different segments of the market rather than relying solely on consumers who can afford to pay for smartphones upfront.

Rising Component Costs Put Pressure On Prices

Maintaining affordability has become more difficult as the cost of memory and other raw materials increases.

Zhou said Honor was attempting to absorb those pressures for as long as possible rather than immediately passing higher costs on to consumers.

“Even with the price increase from the raw materials from memory, we are trying our best to hold the stock, hold the price for as long as possible,” he said.

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The company has also continued introducing lower-priced products. Zhou pointed to the Honor Choice P10, which was launched in South Africa at a price below R2,000.

The approach reflects Honor’s effort to compete across the full market, from more affordable devices to premium smartphones.

Honor Wants To Build A Wider Market Presence

Zhou first outlined the company's three-year plan to become South Africa’s leading smartphone brand in 2025, describing Honor as a potential bridge between South Africa and China.

At the time, he identified product innovation, trust and market expansion as key elements of the company's strategy.

“First is product innovation and bringing everything to South Africa. The second is about trust,” Zhou said.

“We always say we want to become the bridge between South Africa and China, so we want to build and enhance our partnerships with suppliers, network partners, and the media.”

He also said Honor needed to reach parts of the South African market where its presence remained limited.

“We will have various strategic expansions into areas to get in touch with more consumers and cover more areas of the South African market,” Zhou said.

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Speaking at the Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town in November 2025, Zhou again emphasised the importance of working with network operators and retailers to make Honor products more widely available.

“We use their channels through partners like Vodacom to get our products to flow to all the stores, providing easy access for consumers to get hands-on with our products,” he said.

Affordable Does Not Mean Disposable, Honor Says

Zhou said Honor's strategy was not simply to produce the cheapest possible smartphones.

He argued that extremely low-cost devices could ultimately become more expensive for consumers if poor hardware or battery performance forced them to replace their phones sooner.

He cited hypothetical devices costing between $40 and $50 as an example, saying that reducing manufacturing costs too aggressively could result in hardware that performs poorly or fails within a short period.

“Then consumers have to change the battery, or the battery can’t last for long, and you have to charge all the time,” Zhou said.

He said the challenge was to balance affordability with durability and useful hardware.

“It’s best to balance the price point and the affordability,” Zhou said.

For Honor, that balance will be central to its attempt to turn its current position as a challenger into the number one position in South Africa by 2028.