Honor left the Indian market in 2021, only to announce a triumphant return in September 2023. The charge was led by Madhav Sheth, former chief of Realme India who left his job to head Htech, a local entity aiming to sell Honor phones under the “Made in India” programme.
Today, just 20 months later, the whole thing is over. Honor India fans received a sudden announcement over official communications channels that “Explore Honor” has officially ceased operations and support in India.
Message from Explore Honor Telegram group
The Telegram group, from which we received the screenshot, will be renamed from “Explore Honor India Fan Club” to “Alcatel India Community.” Funnily, Madhav Sheth recently moved over to the local company that will bring back the Alcatel brand to the smartphone market, having purchased the naming rights from TCL.
Sheth is now the Founder & Tech Advisor for Alcatel India, according to his LinkedIn, and his X (formerly Twitter) account bio now lacks anything Honor-related.
Madhav Sheth current bio on X
Here’s where it becomes intriguing. His new company NxtQuantum resembles NxtPaper and NxtVision, technology trademarks used by TCL, the corporation that holds the naming rights for Alcatel. Furthermore, TCL 50 and TCL 60 phones share a similar design with some of the Alcatel products that have been teased.
Notice the similarities between the unreleased Alcatel phone and the TCL 50 Pro NxtPaper?
We’ll see if the phones’ similarities go beyond the design as the official announcement comes – it can’t be long now.