Berlin: Global technology brand HONOR on Friday announced its strategic vision for the future of smartphones at IFA 2023.
During the keynote session entitled “Unfold Tomorrow,” HONOR CEO George Zhao outlined the brand’s commitment to making foldable smartphones mainstream, with the lightest and slimmest inward foldable smartphone of Honor, the Magic V2.
The brand also unveiled the Honor V Purse, a new concept that reimagines a foldable smartphone as a wearable, fashion-forward purse, offering new possibilities for style and self-expression.
“Honor's foldable smartphones have come a long way, with each iteration showcasing remarkable advancements in design, functionality and durability,” said George Zhao, CEO of Honor. “Not only that, but with our phone-to-purse concept brought to life through the Honor V Purse, we are exploring sustainable solutions that leverage emerging foldable technology to empower creativity and shape tomorrow's lifestyle.”
Fashion-forward tech
The Honor V Purse, a new “Phone-to-purse” concept heralds the beginning of electronic devices being seen as an entirely new category of fashionable consumer goods that offer unlimited opportunities for self-expression.
The Honor V Purse transforms the foldable smartphone into a fashion statement, thanks to a series of customisable always-on displays (AODs) that mimic a handbag design. This also has design elements such as chains, feathers and tassels that react and sway with the smartphone as it moves. The concept phone is also compatible with a choice of interchangeable straps and chains, which clip onto the hinge to allow the smartphone to be worn effortlessly over one’s shoulder like an ordinary purse or handbag, enabling it to become the new “it” bag of the future.
In addition to featuring sustainably sourced materials such as vegan leather for its straps, the concept’s customisable AODs can be paired with any outfit. As the fashion industry transcends the physical world into a more digital space, technology is enabling unlimited possibilities for style and self-expression.
Honor has teamed up with top cultural tastemakers from across its Honor Talents Global Design Awards platform, including creative director from Burberry menswear Bram Van Diepen, contemporary artist Yunuene Esparza, professor of the China Academy of Art Yuan Youmin and crossover artist Xiao Hui Wang, to design a series of custom AODs for the device, offering endless fashion possibilities. In the next phase of the program, by opening up the API interface that allows designers to call sensors like gyroscope, touch or ambient light sensor, Honor will invite emerging talents from around the world to come up with their designs, the company said
Honor also showcased its new flagship foldable smartphone, the Honor Magic V2, for the first time at a global event. The device illustrates Honor’s vision for foldable smartphones, redefining industry benchmarks with significant improvements across form factor, battery, display and user experience aspects.
Foldable magic
The Honor Magic V2 is the lightest and thinnest inward-foldable smartphone that HONOR has introduced to date, weighing only 231g and measuring just 9.9mm thick when folded. It features a new generation of Silicon-Carbon-Dual-Battery with an average thickness of just 2.72mm, which achieves a high capacity of up to 5,000mAh in the space of a thin and light foldable flagship body.
In addition to the thin and lightweight, the Honor Magic V2 features a first-of-its-kind Super-light Titanium Hinge and a new Honor's proprietary steel, providing added robustness and durability to the hinge mechanism. The Honor Magic V2 also earns the coveted durability certification from SGS, by enabling the hinge to withstand more than 400,000 folds, ensuring a lifespan of up to ten years for folding 100 times a day.
The Honor Magic V2 features a triple rear camera that includes a 50MP Main Camera (f/1.9), a 50MP Ultra-Wide Camera (f/2.0), and a 20MP Telephoto Camera (f/2.4). The front-facing dual camera setup features two 16MP Cameras (f/2.2).
Honor Magic V2 also supports industry-leading 3840Hz PWM Dimming technology that minimises eye strain, ensuring comfortable viewing even during extended use.
New interactive experiences are made possible by the Honor Magic V2. The HONOR Magic V2 supports hovering photography along with other hovering experiences like meetings and entertainment. With Magic V2 Honor has introduced support for Parallel Space, which not only allows work and life data to be stored separately and data to be securely isolated. It also makes it possible to independently operate dual-space apps in parallel, much like a second phone was inserted into the foldable phone.
New colour for HONOR 90
Completing its product updates, Honor also announced that the HONOR 90 has won the coveted Best Buy Smartphone 2023-2024 from the Expert Imaging and Sound Association (EISA). Celebrating the win, Honor is launching an on-trend Peacock Blue colourway for the Honor 90 globally.
