Asia Tech Wire (Aug 5) -- Chinese smartphone maker Honor said it will launch an IPO in due course.

This follows news that Honor is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in mainland China this year or early next year, which could value the company at more than 100 billion yuan.

Honor's IPO plan has also reportedly received support from the Shenzhen municipal government.

In 2020, a company backed by Shenzhen's state-owned capital acquired Honor from Huawei, which valued it at about 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion) at the time.

Regarding the latest rumors, Honor responded on Monday that it plans to launch a shareholding reform in the fourth quarter of this year and start the IPO process in due course after that.

"Honor will batch the relevant financial data in the corresponding process," the company said.

Honor also said that from Jan. 1, 2021, to the present, it has not received any support from the Shenzhen government "beyond that given to common enterprises."