Honor is back to making phones that are 5G and potentially globally available again

As a Huawei subsidiary, Honor may have seen adversity for its global smartphone business due to its parent's placement on the US' Entity List. However, its recent sell-off means it can now trade with American companies for vital components again - Qualcomm and its mobile processors included.

A Chinese media outlet has just reported that the OEM is indeed working with this chipset-designer in order to make a new handset. Then again, the exact SoC was not mentioned, although it is apparently one capable of supporting 5G bands. Qualcomm has lots of these, from the flagship Snapdragon 888 to the new budget-grade 480.

It is slightly more certain that the upcoming phone in question is not the V40. This flagship and its Pro variants is said to run on the MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ chipset, having missed out on both Kirin and Qualcomm alternatives during its development.

The new premium line is slated to launch on January 18, 2021, in a year that might see fresh horizons for Honor. They might even include a new Android skin, to replace the Huawei-informed EMUI and Magic UI systems of the past.