Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 is only a few brief weeks from now, and firms have already begun to tease what’s in retailer for the massive annual present. Honor simply launched a pair of new telephones so it seems to be like the corporate shall be specializing in the software program entrance for MWC this yr, pushing ahead with a brand new AI-focused idea it calls the Honor Alpha Plan.
Last yr’s launch of the Honor Magic 6 Pro got here with a full dedication to main with AI-forward options, notably the place the cellphone’s digital camera was involved. At the time, the idea was nonetheless pretty new amongst telephones, as Samsung had simply introduced Galaxy AI and most different AI-powered options baked into Android used AI earlier than the time period was in vogue.
The largest situation with Honor’s AI launch final yr was compatibility with non-Honor gadgets and companies. The rollout of Magic OS 9 alongside the Honor Magic 7 Pro helped push that ahead, with options like Magic Portal receiving help for a whole lot of apps and a cool knuckle gesture that works rather a lot like Circle to go looking. This builds on Google’s operate by making it simple to share belongings you circle, not simply seek for them.
At MWC, we count on massive issues from the brand-new CEO of Honor, Jian Li, who simply changed earlier CEO George Zhao in mid-January. No doubt, Li is seeking to make his mark on the corporate as he units the tone for the remainder of the yr, and the Honor Alpha Plan sounds precisely like what we’d count on.
As you may think from the identify, the phrase “Alpha” is the start of the Greek alphabet and certain a brand new path ahead for the corporate’s AI pursuits. Companies are spending extra on AI in 2025 than ever, and the crown for the perfect AI within the land appears to vary each week. It’s not going that Honor is going to leap into the fray with the likes of Open AI, Grok, Gemini, and Deepseek, but it actually would make sense for the corporate to start out launching extra AI-forward gadgets sooner or later.
The query is whether or not which means including extra AI-enhanced options to its telephones — like the brand-new AI telephoto function on the Magic 7 Pro — or if it means devoted AI gadgets. One pioneer on this sector, the Humane AI Pin, simply known as it quits. While the idea of a screenless machine powered by an AI assistant is extraordinarily futuristic, Humane’s implementation of the idea left rather a lot to be desired.
But I may simply see an organization like Honor shifting in to take benefit of the curiosity on this market by utilizing its experience on AI and machine ecosystems. Honor already produces laptops, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and extra that every one hyperlink collectively in impressively cohesive methods.
I exploit an Honor MagicGuide Art 14 Snapdragon Edition as my most important laptop computer, and it pairs completely (and seamlessly) with the Honor Magic 7 RSR and two Honor tablets that I’ve. Using a pill as a second laptop computer display is as simple as hitting the “join” button that pops up when the pill is unlocked, and the identical goes for larger display foldable telephones like the Honor Magic V3.
Most of the corporate’s enchancment occurred all through 2024, and 2025 seems to be to be the perfect yr but. Android Central Phones editor Harish Jonnalagadda wrote about Honor’s spectacular upward trajectory, and I’ve little question the brand new CEO is aiming even greater with the Honor Alpha Plan when it’s unveiled at MWC.
Jian Li comes from a Huawei background, at a time when the corporate led smartphone digital camera innovation earlier than U.S. commerce sanctions stymied the enterprise for just a few years. Now, Li has moved on to the helm of Honor and is clearly able to take the corporate to the following stage internationally.
While I may hope for a correct U.S. launch of the corporate’s merchandise, I dare not maintain my breath within the present political local weather. Instead, I believe the corporate will focus much more on distinctive AI options which might be being copied by rivals and devoted AI-forward gadgets that can work effectively with all kinds of gadgets, not simply Honor’s.
After all, the Alpha Plan’s at present laid-out imaginative and prescient states that Honor “is dedicated to fostering an open and collaborative surroundings the place innovation thrives by means of partnership.” Given that the newest Honor gadgets work higher than ever with Google’s personal Gemini companies, it is sensible to me that Honor would push itself to be the main worldwide Android model, particularly since Samsung has been so stagnant previously few years.