Chinese company Honor has announced plans to go beyond smartphones, but it is much more logical than you might think.
If you have heard of honor before, that is almost certainly because of a telephone. Even before the company split up from ex-parenting Huawei, they were the most famous product, and that is even more true.
At first glance, leaving that strategy seems a big mistake, but there is a lot of method in the apparent madness. Under the new CEO James Li, Honor wants to transform himself from “a smartphone maker into a global leading AI device company company” in the course of the coming years.
However, the smartphone remains a fundamental part of its ‘Alpha plan’. Creating “an intelligent telephone that brings a revolution in interaction between people and devices and the AI ecosystem with consumers will bridge” is the first big step.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
But it is not the only hardware that matters to honor. On PCs, tablets, wearables and more, the company says that it will “rebuild” the user experience with the help of AI. Exactly how the end user will see, however, can still be seen.
It is crucial that one of the most ecosystem functions is not exclusive to honor devices. AI Connect, who describes honor as “the world’s first all-ecosystem file exchange technology”, will supposedly allow you to transfer files and data between iOS and Android devices, a process that is not always easy.
Cooperation is also a large part of the Alpha plan. In addition to Apple and Google, Honor also works with Qualcomm to develop a lot of the underlying technology. Of course you will find Qualcomm’s Snapdragon -chipsets already in many honorary devices.
However, what about the here and now? Honor has also revealed three important characteristics that come to existing devices. AI Deepfake Detection is added to the ‘newest flagship telephones’ of the company, while the Magic 7 Pro stores a new ‘Aimage’ AI AI for photos.
And, starting with the Magic 7 Pro, all honorary flag ships and foldable things get a class of seven years of both OS and security updates, which match the promises of Samsung and Google.
