The Honor 40 is allegedly on the way, spearheading a 2021 comeback that may also involve tablets and foldables

Honor is a brand that built its success on taking mobile-device tech from its former parent Huawei and giving it a slightly different spin that appealed to an often younger (read: more cost-conscious) audience at premium, mid-range and budget levels.

This strategy worked out well - until, of course, Huawei was hit with Entity List status and, thus, lost access to the component supplies it was normally capable of lavishing on Honor in order to build its recognition - while, of course, multiplying sales for the company as a whole in the process.

This ultimately led to the sale of Honor in late 2020, whereas Huawei may have to scale its own smartphone business back drastically in order to survive. This also potentially freed the brand to secure agreements with alternative chip-makers such as Qualcomm and MediaTek to help build new phones, now the Kirin door is closed to it for good.

This process, according to the knowledgeable leaker Digital Chat Station, has already given Honor what it needs to compete in 2021. Not only does it apparently now have such contracts going with both firms, it now has access to the top-end Snapdragon 888 SoC, meaning it might yet produce a bona-fide flagship this year.

The phone in question might be a successor to the Kirin 985-powered 30, as also recently suggested by the tipster. Furthermore, it seems Honor left Huawei with at least some of this company's high-end camera tech, thus potentially enabling the brand to maintain its reputation in this area.

The rumors of the brand's potential to compete doesn't end there. It seems no OEM will be without its Dimensity 1200- and 1100-based mid-rangers this year, and Honor will apparently be right there alongside them with its own take on these second-gen 5G chipsets.

Digital Chat Station also mentioned the possibility of a 2021 Honor tablet (a form-factor in serious demand worldwide), and that this company is also working on its own first-gen "Magic" foldable (hopping on a potentially crucial bandwagon in the process). Therefore, it seems it has truly evaded Huawei's troubles, and will move beyond them in its own right from now on.

Finally, Honor also makes laptops (such as the 16-inch MagicBook Pro 2020, now available on Newegg). The leaker did not mention this area of its business in its latest posts on the company's future, although there is now no reason for the company to quit this market either.