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I controlled a car with my eyes in this whimsical tech demo
Honor's eye-tracking demo is delightfully dumb, and I'm here for it
When big tech companies announce their next big thing, they're usually going all in on selling us how it will instantly change our lives, routinely overpromising and underdelivering. At MWC 2024, Honor decided to mix things up with a delightfully dumb but fun demo showcasing its new eye-tracking technology on its Magic 6 Pro flagship. It posed the most hilarious scenario: what if you could control a car by looking at boxes on your phone?
A new clamshell folding phone is coming this year as competition heats up
Honor just announced that it will enter the flip phone market this year
Flip phones today are significantly different from what we used to see a decade or so ago. While the likes of Samsung and Motorola are ahead of the curve in terms of modern-day clamshell foldables, plenty of other manufacturers have since joined the fray. Chinese manufacturer Honor has now confirmed plans to launch a clamshell foldable of its own, with the company's book-style foldable, the Magic V2, already making an impact with its thin form factor.
The Honor Magic 6 Pro and its huge battery are official
We also finally know what Honor’s Porsche Design Magic V2 foldable will cost
Honor already launched its new flagship phone, the Magic 6 Pro, in China in January. At MWC 2024, the company is now making its latest high-end handset official for Western markets, slated to grace Europe and more regions soon. With the Magic 6 Pro, the company is significantly stepping up its hardware game, leapfrogging the competition in some key areas. Let’s dive into what sets it apart.
Honor Magic 6 Pro review: I want this battery in every phone
The Honor Magic 6 Pro is jam-packed with the latest hardware and offers a battery like no other
Ever since Huawei was forced out of the US and other Western markets, its former subsidiary Honor has done its best to fill the hole left by what was once one of the most popular smartphone makers around the globe. While Honor still isn't there, it's on a growth trajectory. The company achieves this with its ever-improving lineup of flagship phones and some formidable hardware advancements in the foldable sector with the ultra-thin Magic V2.
This phone is here to kick off the silicon carbon battery revolution
The Magic 6 Pro features Honor's second-generation custom battery with some unique properties
Lithium-ion batteries have powered the best smartphones, laptops, tablets, and EVs for more than the past decade. While they currently offer some of the best compromises when it comes to energy density, security, durability, and efficiency, they’re far from the holy grail. They need a certain temperature range to operate well and without excessive degradation, and they don’t pack terribly much energy per gram. That’s where Honor’s new silicon-based anode comes in, which solves a few of these problems quite elegantly.
This Chinese brand just lapped Samsung in adding AI to its phones
Honor is using an on-device AI to create an ‘intent-based’ interface
Honor may fly under the radar as a smartphone brand in the US, but the former Huawei subsidiary managed to grab the biggest smartphone market share in China by a small margin at the end of last year. It doesn’t look like the company is losing any of its ambitions in the process. Exactly one week before Samsung’s big and likely AI-focused Galaxy launch event, Honor announced MagicOS 8.0, the latest version of its Android skin, featuring an on-board AI and a rethought “intent-based” interface.
Honor’s upcoming Magic 6 wants to be your cloud-free AI champion
It will feature on-device generative AI thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
The US sanctions on Huawei also affected its subsidiary Honor. In a bid to keep the company alive, Huawei and Honor split in 2020, with the latter being sold to a Chinese government-backed consortium. Since then, Honor has launched a slate of impressive devices, like the Honor 90, the Magic 5 Pro, and the impressively thin open-book foldable Magic V2. With Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip officially out, Chinese manufacturers are in a race to announce their next flagship phone. Not to be left behind, Honor teased the Magic 6 and its AI-powered features at the ongoing Snapdragon Summit.
Honor's new Magic Vs2 foldable is lighter than the Galaxy S23 Ultra
This is the slim and lightweight foldable we deserve
Honor has had a busy 2023, launching a slew of impressive smartphones and foldables. The company started the year with the international launch of its first foldable, the Honor Magic Vs, which impressed us in some areas but fell short in others. A few months later, the company announced the Magic V2, one of the slimmest foldables around. With folding phones a growing category in the smartphone segment, Honor wants a bigger pie of the market and has announced its third foldable of the year: the Magic Vs2. It packs the best features of Honor's previous foldable with some compromises to reach a lower price point.
The Honor brand has seen a few ups and downs in its lifetime. But since severing ties with Huawei, the company has sold a handful of smartphones in global markets — including its first international foldable — the Honor Magic Vs, offering some improvements over the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 in some areas. Just as Samsung gears up to reveal the next-gen Galaxy Z Fold device in late July, Honor has now announced a launch event scheduled for July 12 in Beijing, meant to showcase the Honor Magic V2.
Honor 90 flagships are easy on the eyes in more ways than one, with ultra-high refresh screen dimming
Both phones are also equipped with 200MP ISOCELL HP3 cameras
The Honor brand has been making a resurgence of late, particularly after Huawei handed the reins to a group of companies backed by the Chinese government in late 2020. This move was designed to allow Honor to continue selling its products where Huawei couldn’t due to trade embargoes. As a result, we’ve seen a handful of Honor smartphones with Google services launching in global markets over the past couple of years. The company is continuing its momentum as we approach the middle of the year by launching the new Honor 90 and Honor 90 Pro in China.
Honor pulls flagship Magic 5 Pro and foldable Magic Vs out of its MWC hat
Seeing stars and a whole lot more
Honor is pulling a heck of a follow-through move at MWC 2023. You may still perceive this Chinese brand being overshadowed by its former parent company, Huawei, but ever since its divestiture, Honor has been working on itself. Late last year, it hit out at the foldable market in China with the Magic Vs phablet. Today, the company is not only bringing it over to Europe, but is also launching new flagship-class slabs for its Magic 5 series.
How to watch Honor’s book-style Magic Vs and Magic 5 launch
Honor has some impressive devices lined up for announcement at MWC 2023
Huawei sold Honor to a Chinese government-backed consortium in November 2020 to ensure its survival. That move has paid well, as Honor has launched some impressive devices since then, including its first folding phone, the Magic V. The company followed this up with its second foldable, the Magic Vs, which we found to be a worthy competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 in our hands-on. Three months after its China debut, the foldable is set to launch internationally alongside Honor's flagship Magic 5 series. The devices will be unveiled at MWC 2023, and if they have caught your fancy, here's how you can watch them being revealed live.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is getting a hot Honor competitor this month
The Honor Magic Vs will make its global debut alongside the Magic 5 series at MWC 2023
Honor is one of several Chinese phone makers that have gotten involved in the foldable phone market for the past few years, alongside Oppo, Xiaomi, and Vivo. However, its first foldable device was limited to the Chinese market. Only Samsung has made a significant push in the foldable race in North America and elsewhere, with the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip lines consistently ranking among our top picks for the best Android phones. Late last year, Honor finally took the wraps off the Magic Vs, its first foldable phone bound for a global release to challenge Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold line. The device was initially available only in China, but Honor is now set to unveil the foldable phone to the rest of the world at the end of February.
Honor launches the slimmest foldable yet to take on Samsung internationally
One of the slimmest foldables yet is slated to be available outside of China in early 2023
Samsung is pretty much the only smartphone maker that offers its foldable phones internationally. Within China, the Korean company has a lot of competition from the likes of Oppo, Vivo, and Honor, but none of these manufacturers have launched their foldables outside their domestic market. That is going to finally change with Honor’s latest foldable that it announced today, the Honor Magic Vs.
Honor's second foldable flagship is coming this month, looking impossibly thin
The Honor flagship is rumored to have a bigger battery than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
Ever since it parted ways with Huawei, Honor has been trying to grab the attention of potential phone buyers. It already has some decent mid-range phones and plans to take on some of the best foldable phones out there with its own model. But Honor seemingly wants a bigger slice of the flagship pie as it is set to announce a new foldable phone later this month, the Magic Vs — a successor to the China-exclusive Magic V.
Honor's next Magic foldable will pull an escape stunt, appearing in Europe at last
Get it, escape stunt? It's a magic pun
Although Samsung's Z-series likely springs to mind first when thinking of the best foldables, it's far from the only company making futuristic smartphones. Motorola, Oppo, Huawei, and more have all designed at least one generation of folding phones, with more on the way. Unfortunately, many of those devices have stayed exclusive to China — but that's slowly starting to change, beginning with Honor.
The Honor 70 wants to be a vlogging beast, and it's finally coming to new markets
Alongside the budget-friendly Honor Pad 8
These days, everyone's a content creator. Whether snapping photos of you and your friends for Instagram or chasing the latest TikTok trend, your smartphone is the key to creating your next project. With the Honor 70, the company hopes to sway potential buyers with all sorts of vlogging capabilities, but underneath all that software is a pretty impressive midrange phone. As announced during Honor's IFA keynote, It's coming to select European markets starting today, right alongside pre-orders for a new budget Android tablet.
Honor 70 first look: A significant step forward
The software and camera experience is much improved compared to previous phones
Honor has launched a few products during its IFA 2022 keynote, and the headliner among those devices is almost certainly the Honor 70, its latest midrange phone. While it isn’t as flashy and stuffed with sensors and cameras as the flagship Honor Magic 4 Pro, it’s still a phone that can compete toe-to-toe with many other high-end phones. Honor itself positions it as a great vlogging and selfie machine, so we went hands-on to find out if this phone can hold up to its lofty claims.
On September 2nd, Honor is hosting its very first IFA keynote in Berlin. While details are vague, we can expect an entire line-up of new devices, from laptops to earbuds. In the video below, you can tune in to the live stream at 5 pm CEST (4 pm BST, 11 am EST) and get to learn about the latest and greatest from Honor.
The Honor Watch GS 3 still suffers from the Huawei split
While Huawei is moving on with HarmonyOS, Honor’s latest watch feels stuck in limbo
Honor only recently split from its parent company, Huawei, back in 2020. The newly independent firm is working hard on building on its legacy while also moving forward on its own. However, losing Huawei's enormous research and development capabilities is a huge blow, and it’s one Honor needs to overcome before it can truly stand on its own. The company has already proven that it has the right building blocks set in place with devices like the Magic4 Pro, but it still has a lot of catching up to do. This becomes clearest when we look at some of Honor’s latest wearables, like the Watch GS 3.