Honor announced European availability of its latest smartphone, Honor 5C, through a “virtual launch” event yesterday.

Akin Le, MD of Western Europe for the Huawei-owned brand, explained the choice of an online unveiling: “Honor is a brand for digital natives, and one key fact is the engagement with our fans.”

Honor 5C sees a step-up in performance over its predecessors with the adoption of a 16 nanometer 64-bit octacore chipset (Kirin 650), which is said to offer up to 65 per cent performance gain over previous generation 28nm silicon.

The smartphone has 13MP rear and 8MP front cameras. It also has dual antennas to prevent dropped calls, a 5.2-inch full HD screen, and 3,000mAh battery.

Of course, there are some omissions in order for it to reach a lower price point, with the fingerprint sensor used in other Honor devices (including the Chinese-market Honor 5C) among the casualties. It also has Cat 4 LTE support in European guise, as opposed to Cat 6 for China.

Onboard storage of 16GB can be augmented with a microSD card, with the microSD slot also doubling-up for a second SIM instead.

Honor 5C is available in gold, silver and grey finishes, with a “diamond-polished, aircraft-grade aluminium-alloy body”.

Pricing is €199/£149, with delivery set to begin imminently. It is available in nine European markets, including UK, France, Spain and Germany, via various online retailers.

In the UK, it will also be offered by operator 3 later this year.

The MD said that Honor has so far seen more than 100 per cent year-on-year growth.