Justin Li, president of Honor South Pacific (formerly a division of Huawei Technologies), said the company will launch in Indonesia early this year, targeting the mid-to-high-end segment currently dominated by Samsung and Apple. reign.

“Although the Indonesian market is still 80% oriented towards low-end handsets, it has significant growth potential. The absolute number of mid- and high-end segment devices could reach 5 million units per year, the largest in the region,” Lee said.

While Samsung and Apple currently control the niche, “we intend to challenge their dominance in this segment and provide a better alternative,” he added.

At launch, Honor plans to launch more than 10 products in Indonesia, including premium foldable smartphones as well as laptops, tablets and wearables in the first quarter of 2025 and increase this number to 30 devices throughout the year. The devices will be manufactured by a local partner.

Honor's entry into Indonesia comes at a time when Southeast Asia's largest economy is emerging as a key battleground for major smartphone companies including Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi and Transsion, as well as the Indonesian government. ban the sale of the iPhone 16 series (because Apple cannot fulfill its investment obligations in the country's economy).

“Our market entry is not related to (the sales ban) of Apple in Indonesia. We began planning our retreat long before the recent event. Regardless of the situation with Apple, our strategy in Indonesia remains the same,” Lee said.

“I want to emphasize that our local manufacturing is not just outsourcing but also a deep partnership. Our supply chain and production teams are deeply involved in the local production process, especially in terms of process management and quality control,” the chairman said.

Lee said he is aware of the fierce competition in the market, which many of Honor's Chinese partners are also relying on as a foundation for growth in the region.

According to Canalys, Oppo is currently leading in Indonesia with a market share of about 20% in the first three months of 2024, but Xiaomi, Vivo, Samsung and Transsion are not far behind. All of these companies have their own production facilities or rely on local partners to meet government requirements for local content.

The average price of a smartphone in Indonesia is about 167 USD, the lowest among major countries in Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Honor returns to Malaysia in 2021. In 2022, the company enters the markets of Thailand and the Philippines, and in 2023 – Vietnam and Singapore. In December, more than 50% of Honor's sales came from overseas markets for the first time.

Will Wong, senior technology analyst at IDC, noted that many players are turning their attention to Southeast Asia and especially Indonesia as the region's growth rate outpaces the global market and many The market is more economically and socially stable than other regions.