(Yicai) Sept. 30 -- Wan Biao has resigned as vice chairman of Honor, the smartphone maker that Huawei Technologies spun off four years ago, Yicai learned from the company. 

Wan’s departure from the vice chairmanship and other roles at Huawei will not impact normal operations, the firm said. Wan told Yicai that the decision to step down was based on personal reasons and he is spending time with his family.

Shenzhen-based Honor announced last month that it was planning to launch a joint stock system reform in the fourth quarter, ahead of an initial public offering.

Set up by Huawei in 2013, Honor was sold off in November 2020 to avoid US sanctions that restricted the parent company’s access to key components and software.

At Huawei, Wan was wireless product lineup president, terminal product president, and chief operating officer for consumer business. He served as the company’s chairman in 2020.

Last November, Wu Hui joined Honor as chairman, with Wan shifting to the vice chairmanship. Before that, Wu chaired Shenzhen Water and Environment Group. 

Honor now has 17 shareholders, including BOE Technology Group, Guosen Capital, and China Mobile. It has had two funding rounds so far, in November 2022 and last month.

Reuters said in August that Honor will likely list at the end of this year or early in 2025, and The Paper reported that the firm has been receiving “an unusually high level of support from local government backers.”

But Honor responded, saying that it had not received such support since January 2021, adding that it adheres to the principles of openness and transparency and that it will unveil its financial data during the IPO process.

Honor ranked fourth in China’s phone market with a share of about 14.5 percent in the second quarter, according to International Data Corporation. The Chinese market saw an overall rise in quarterly shipments of 8.9 percent from a year earlier, reaching 71.6 million units, the data showed.

The company aims to become one the world's big three cellphone vendors by 2028.

Editors: Shi Yi, Tom Litting