Chinese phone brand Honor has responded to online chatter that it has begun developing mobile phones equipped with Huawei’s self-developed Kirin chips, with Honor’s CMO Jiang Hairong responding on the social platform Weibo that the suggestions are “pure nonsense”. Honor formerly operated as a Huawei sub-brand, before the two companies technically split apart in the wake of US sanctions against the latter. “Huawei is the great competitor that Honor respects and looks forward to competing with. As for the reports about Honor returning to Huawei, this is absolutely impossible,” Honor’s CEO Zhao Ming stated last September. In the first quarter, Honor took the top spot in the Chinese phone market with a share of 17.1%, followed by Huawei at 17%, according to market intelligence firm IDC.  [IThome, in Chinese]