Honor puts AI in the operating system of smartphones in China: so it understands our intentions

The redesign of MagicOS falls into the first type. On the cloud services side, it will be interesting to see how it will be applied by the Chinese web giants, after 2023 saw the rise of Open AI, Microsoft and Google. Here in China, the biggest Western services are either not available or have severe limitations.

In a demo, the company showed how Magic Portal works. While using a messaging app to make a booking, we can drag and drop a single message. On the right side of the screen the phone recommends the most potentially useful apps. For example the map with directions to where we are going. Possible input is text, or an image, even gestures and eye movement. A picture of a dress, for example, can be dragged into a shopping app.

The CEO of Honor, George Zhao, spoke about these features of the new operating system during the launch of the new Honor Magic 6 smartphone series, which we followed with a small group of Italian publications and a local audience of 4,000 developers and customers.

The company's new top of the range debuted on the Chinese market, while for the European market they will be announced during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of February.

To summarise, the new Magic series smartphones (6 and 6 Pro) have the aforementioned MagicOS 8.0 operating system and inside are Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 third-generation soc. LTPO OLED display and a revamped triple rear camera. The one on the Magic 6 Pro has a 180-megapixel periscope sensor. Remarkable battery performance, for which Honor uses silicon-carbon: the Magic 6 has a capacity of 5,450 mAh, while the Pro model goes up to 5,600 mAh. The phones are capable of hooking up to a network of satellites for voice and audio functions, but probably this function, like AI on the operating system, at least for the time being remains the preserve of the Chinese market.

During the presentation there were many references to the number one competitor: Apple. One commercial shows the super-resistant screen of the new Magic capable of breaking that of a new iPhone. Or the battery: in Honor's test, playing a video with a battery only 10% charged and -20 degrees centigrade lasts 11.33 minutes compared to 02.57 for the iPhone. Applause from the front rows of young Chinese who occasionally throw loud jokes at George Zhao, make videos, share on WeChat.

The other benchmark is Huawei's Mate 60. Top of the range that has lifted the company's sales in China. According to the latest Counterpoint data, covering the third quarter of 2023, Honor is first in the country in smartphone sales with 19%, on a par with Oppo, followed by Vivo (16%), Apple (15%) and Huawei (14%). Growing compared to the same quarter in 2022 is mainly Huawei, which was at 10%, while Vivo, which was at 20%, drops. Analysts will be watching the Christmas quarter data closely to see the performance of Apple, which according to early reports is experiencing a drop in sales in the country.

When asked about the smartphone market, which has declined globally over the past two years, Ray Guo replies that 'in the last two quarters of 2023, we saw an initial turnaround in China. Sales have gone up driven by the premium segment. So it's a change of direction that I believe is driven by product innovation, not by a market conjuncture. Just look at the success of Huawei's Mate 60. 2024 could continue in this direction. That is why we decided to make the most important launch of the year now with the Magic 6'.