“US government doubts about imposing trade ban on smartphone maker Honor”

The US government is hesitant to put Honor on the ‘entity list’ to ban US companies from trading with the smartphone maker. Until last year, Honor was part of Huawei, which has been on that list for a few years.

Of the four government agencies considering it, two are for and two against Honor’s inclusion on the entity list, writes The Washington Post. It is unknown exactly what the reasons are for being for or against listing. The newspaper cites an appeal from politicians who argue that Honor is partly owned by the Chinese government.

On the other hand, companies on the list must be a threat to the national security of the United States. Honor does not sell its smartphones in the US while it does not sell components or networking equipment. As a result, the smartphone maker has no direct trade with the US.

Nevertheless, a trade ban can have major consequences. Honor phones use socs from the American chip designer Qualcomm and that is no longer allowed with a trade ban. Putting Google services such as the Play Store on the phones is also no longer allowed.

Huawei has seen its share of the smartphone market plummet in the past two years due to the trade ban. The manufacturer hardly ever comes up with new models in Europe and deliveries have more than halved in two years.

Honor Magic 3