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China’s Honor sees slim, AI-powered foldable smartphones driving premium market push

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China’s Honor sees slim, AI-powered foldable smartphones driving premium market push

Honor chief executive George Zhao Ming said at a media briefing on Friday after the company’s latest product launch in Shenzhen that thinness is an advantage for the company in the growing global market for foldable smartphones – including clamshell-type handsets that flip open vertically and those designed like a booklet that expands horizontally into tablet form.
The new 5G-capable Magic V3 handset, priced from 8,999 yuan (US$1,238), provides “a folded thickness” of 9.2 millimetres and weighs just 226 grams, slimmer than rival models from Samsung Electronics and Huawei, according to Honor. The basic model Magic Vs3, priced from 6,999 yuan, also stands out in this market segment at a slim 9.8mm when folded and weighing 229 grams.

“But it’s meaningless to pursue thinness for the sake of it,” Zhao said. “It’s more important to enhance and utilise the capabilities of a phone that is fully unfolded.”

Honor’s basic model Magic Vs3 also stands out in the foldable smartphone segment with its slim design and artificial intelligence capabilities. Photo: Handout
Honor highlighted its application of AI for eye protection, in which the technology works to simulate defocus lens in improving myopia, and make it compatible with video and reading apps. Other AI-powered capabilities include improved motion-capture photography and organising of photo albums.

“When you look at AI elements by other smartphone makers, most of them are based on third-party technologies,” Zhao said. “Industry players are all working quickly with AI partners on the cloud [computing services] side, but it’s on-device AI that will make a difference.”

While Apple still leads the premium market segment in China, foldable handsets will be key for Android smartphone players to compete with the iPhone in the high-end market, according to a report by IDC. Such handsets with AI features are poised to boost smartphone sales on the mainland, with total 2024 shipments rising 3.1 per cent year on year to 279 million units.
Honor chief executive George Zhao Ming. Photo: Visual China Group via Getty Images

For high-end smartphones that cost over US$600, Honor ranked third on the mainland last year with a 6 per cent share, according to data from research firm Canalys.

Honor’s foldable smartphone shipments rose to 901,000 units in 2023, surging 342 per cent from 204,000 units the previous year, Canalys data shows.

Honor’s major competitors in the foldable smartphone segment are Huawei and Samsung. Counterpoint data showed that Huawei led the global foldable handset market in the first quarter with a 35 per cent share, followed by Samsung with 23 per cent.

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