Huawei has been a bargaining chip in the US-Sino trade war since mid-2019 and as such has been dragging its Honor brand along. The Shenzhen-based company finally sold the division, leaving it to flourish on its own and allowing it to trade with US companies, including Google.

According to Kommersant, a reputable Russian newspaper, Honor is working on a new line of smartphones that can run Google Services.

An insider revealed that the split from Huawei means AppGallery will be available to the current Honor phones, while the new devices will have no easy access to the HMS universe. So far, Honor has been launching non-GMS phones for over 18 months, massively hurting sales in markets like Europe and Russia, where Kommersant revealed it was the second-biggest smartphone company for 2020 (after Samsung).

The next big thing from Honor should be the V40 series; however, these phones were developed under the ownership of Huawei, and they will naturally arrive with Magic UI and no GMS access.

The change is likely to affect the Honor X11 and Honor 40 phones, but it should come as a surprise if the company decides to introduce new letters, marking its independence and the new beginning.

Source (in Russian)