It took Xiaomi over a year to get into the smart TV business and now it seems Huawei is also preparing to enter the television space.
According to a source who spoke to cnBeta, Huawei and its sub-brand Honor are going to launch televisions under the respective brands this year and they already have about 200-300 people working under the TV division.
Unlike Xiaomi however, the report says Huawei is not interested in selling cheap televisions. Instead, the Honor brand will tackle the budget end of the TV market, leaving Huawei to focus on premium sets.
Huawei is expected to launch two TVs under its sub-brand Honor in April and May respectively, followed by a more premium Huawei TV in the second-half of 2019.
The Honor TVs will be available through online retail channels and will be much more affordable than the Huawei TVs, which will start at 65 inches.
Putting the T(V) in IoT
Huawei is looking to streamline its Internet-of-Things (IoT) portfolio, and an entry into the TV business will give the Chinese firm another strong foothold.
The company will also look to create a demand for rich content options which will in-turn strengthen 5G network penetration.
Chinese rival OnePlus is also working on a television which could be launched this year, but it's hush-hush on details about its entry into the TV market.
We will have to wait for Huawei and OnePlus to announce the products to get a real sense of the offerings, till then there are still a lot of TVs to choose from.
