Huawei launches Honor 8 to compete with the flagship killers OnePlus 3, Mi 5

Chinese network equipment and handset-maker Huawei on Wednesday launched two variants of Honor 8 -- the 8 and the 8 Smart -- along with Holly 3 to compete with the flagship killer smartphones OnePlus 3 and Xiaomi's Mi 5 and also take a pie out of the budget category where most players are trying to grab a share.

The Honor 8, which will come at a price of ₹29,999, draws inspiration Huawei P9's dual camera technology, and features 5.2-inch full-HD display, Kirin 950 processor paired up with 4GB of RAM. It will have an external memory support up to 128GB.

The device features 12-megapixel dual lens camera along with a 8-megapixel front camera, runs on Huawei's Emotion UI 4.1 on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system and houses 3,000mAh battery.

"With this launch, we continue our India journey and promise to introduce even more high-quality, disruptive products in the market," said George Zhao, president, Honor, in a statement.

The lesser-priced Honor 8 smart, which will come at a price of ₹19,999, features 5.2-inch display, Kirin 650 chipset, 13-megapixel rear camera, 8-megapixel front camera and houses 3,000mAh battery.

The company also launched another budget device, named Honor, at a price of ₹9,999 which it will make in India in partnership with Flextronics.

While the Honor 8 will be exclusively available on Flipkart and Amazon along with the Honor stores, the other two devices will land soon in the market.

Huawei also said that it plans to expand its distribution network by partnering with more than 50,000 retail outlets by the end of 2016. "This retail network will add to the existing 350+ distributors in India to create a comprehensive, nationwide distribution system. Huawei, over the years, has established global appreciation for its products, both under the Huawei and Honor brands," P Sanjeev, vice president of sales at Huawei India, said.