(Yicai) Jan. 20 -- Chinese smartphone brand Honor Device has changed its chief executive officer for the first time since it split from Huawei Technologies in November 2020.

George Zhao, who had been Honor's CEO for nearly 10 years, resigned for health reasons, and Li Jian will replace him, the Shenzhen-based firm announced on Jan. 17. Zhao also stepped down as director.

Li joined Honor in 2021 after a 20-year career at Huawei, where he was mainly responsible for overseas market development as regional president for the Americas, Europe, and West Africa. At Honor, Li held positions such as vice chairman, director, and president of human resources.

Social media rumors claimed early last week that Zhao would be departing Honor along with the entire team behind the Magic 7 phone series, which launched late last year. On Jan. 15, an insider from the company had denied the rumors to Yicai.

Honor ranked fifth among Chinese smartphone makers last year after Vivo, Huawei, Apple, and Oppo, according to the latest data from market research firm Canalys. However, its shipments declined 3 percent to 42.2 million phones from the previous year, with its market share falling by 1 percentage point to 15 percent.

Honor faced competitive pressure from other smartphone brands in China last year, so it should come up with a more proactive strategy to solidify its position in the market, a distributor told Yicai.

In response to the fierce domestic competition, Honor has been focusing more on overseas markets. For instance, it announced earlier this month a strategic partnership with Indonesian mobile phone retailer Erajaya to enter the Indonesian premium smartphone market.

Overseas sales accounted for more than half of Honor’s total and gradually achieved profitability in several markets in late 2024, according to Li Jing, the firm’s president for the South Pacific region.

Founded by Chinese tech giant Huawei in 2013, Honor mainly targets the youth market with cost-effective handsets and related products. Huawei sold the entire business to Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology, which is controlled by the Shenzhen state-owned assets manager, in November 2020 for CNY100 billion (USD13.7 billion) after being sanctioned by the US government.

In December, Honor said it would seek an initial public offering at an appropriate juncture after revealing it had completed the process of bringing onboard new investors.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione