(Yicai Global) Aug. 13 -- Chinese mobile phone maker Honor no longer has any links with Huawei Technologies, Chief Executive Zhao Ming said at the launch of a new phone yesterday, following recent efforts by US lawmakers to add the former Huawei unit to the US government’s so-called Entity List. 

On Aug. 6, 14 Republican members of the US House of Representatives asked the Department of Commerce to add Honor to the government’s economic blacklist as they claimed it was spun off last year to evade US export control policies, online news outlet The Paper reported yesterday. 

Zhao emphasized that Honor has focused on developing products jointly with its global partners, and that the company abides by the laws and regulations of the nations in which it operates.

Honor yesterday launched its first high-end flagship handset model, the Magic 3, which is priced at CNY4,599 (USD710). The company has spent eight months developing a high-end market strategy since its spinoff from Huawei on Nov. 17. 

Honor has maintained a partnership with overseas chipmakers including California-based Qualcomm and Taiwan-based MediaTek. The new Magic 3 carries Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888 Plus chip and Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon expressed his support for Honor via video link at the launch yesterday. 

Zhao conceded that Honor’s overseas market share has declined to almost zero but said a recovery was possible. “The company had the lowest market share of 3 percent [in China], which has now rebounded to 14.6 percent,” he said. “I believe the same curve is possible in foreign markets.”

Editor: Tom Litting