Honor Magic 6 Pro, China's new phone focuses on artificial intelligence

Four years after Honor separated from Huawei, the Chinese company that now works independently, debuts at the Mobile World Congress, and does so in style and with fashionable technology as its banner. In a massive event held on Sunday at the Palau de Congresos de Catalunya, the Asian firm has made it clear that artificial intelligence is going to be the engine that drives its equipment this year, and not just mobile phones.

Honor has been looking for a gap among the best-selling telephone brands for some time, and its strategy, very focused on high-end and innovation, seems to be beginning to bear fruit. According to Canalys, in the fourth quarter of 2023, while smartphone shipments to Europe experienced a modest decrease of 3% year-on-year, Honor grew by 116%, entering for the first time as the fifth best-selling mobile brand in the European top 5 .

During its event at the MWC, this Chinese firm has made it clear that its objective is to continue climbing positions and the high-end is key. Proof of this is the new Magic 6 Pro, the new top-of-the-range device that Honor presented today along with its first laptop equipped with AI, the MagicBook Pro16.

The king of the house in this presentation has been the Honor Magic 6 Pro, but Honor has followed in Samsung's footsteps in its presentation and has dedicated a good part to its new commitment to artificial intelligence.

The Chinese firm has presented several functions of its Artificial Intelligence, most of them developed by them on device, that is, on the computer, and others thanks to collaborations with third parties such as Microsoft.

The most notable functions, which for the moment will be in the Honor Magic 6 Pro, are Magic Capsule and Magic Portal thanks to the new MagicOS 8.0, the firm's new operating system.

With a simple tap on the notification banner at the top of the screen, the Magic Capsule expands to offer additional information and related options, ensuring users instant access to related resources to improve productivity and efficiency. It is very similar to the iPhone's dynamic island.

For its part, the Magic Portal harnesses the power of AI to understand messages and user behavior, simplifying complex tasks into a single step. During the presentation, George Zhao, CEO of Honor, was able to give an example comparing the Magig 6 Pro with the iPhone. While on the iPhone it is necessary to spend about 10 seconds taking the address from a message and copying and pasting it into Google Maps, with this new Honor function the phone allows you to drag that address to open Google Maps in a second, and do the search directly.

For social networks like Tiktok and Facebook, it also speeds up access and connection, allowing users to forward reservation details or search results with a single drag, they indicate.

Of course, all of this will depend on all of these applications being compatible with this function, although for now Honor has announced that Magic Portal is compatible with more than 100 of the most used applications in the world.

Another curious function is very similar to Rodea to search for Google. If you see a jacket on the Internet that you like, Magic Portal makes it easy to search for that garment on platforms where it can be purchased.

Likewise, the Chinese firm has announced that it is incorporating LlaMA 2, the large Meta language model, into its Magic 6 Pro. Thanks to this, it is possible to perform functions such as questions and answers, text creation and reading comprehension in an offline environment. Its chatbot, MagicLM, works on device, which the firm says helps maintain privacy on the device.

All of these AI tools are not yet available on the terminal, although according to the firm they will be incorporated in the coming weeks through updates.

Another section in which the Honor phone boasts AI is in the camera, a function that is available. For example, thanks to the AI ​​Motion Sensing Capture algorithm, the Honor camera is able to predict which shot is important and capture it in ultra high definition.

This function is highly designed, for example, for sporting events, where different photos are taken and there is a lot of movement. Thanks to an AI network trained on more than 8 million images including 10 major sports categories, the camera recognizes the action. Therefore, it identifies body movements and is able to capture decisive moments. Additionally, it automatically identifies facial expressions such as smiles and body movements such as jumping.

AI is also responsible for making the connection between the computer, mobile phone or tablet almost a matter of magic. IA MagicRing allows you to carry out up to 8 operations at the same time on the different devices connected to each other, being able to share notifications or synchronize materials in a very intuitive way. Transfer a photo from your mobile phone to your computer or an email from your tablet to your mobile phone, with a single action.

Honor has been giving clues for some time about this technology that allows the user to operate the phone simply with their eyes. This function, which we could say has become better known thanks to the Apple Vision Pro, allows users to navigate the device without touching it, just by looking at what they want to do.

Powered by artificial intelligence, Honor says it wants its phone to be operated with your hands, voice or eyes. The company has shown this function (Magic Capsule) in a video, to move a car. Something quite striking, but at the moment it is simply a test of the possibilities it offers, not something real and there is no confirmation that it will arrive in Europe.

This can be useful, for example, if your hands are busy cooking, scrolling with your eyes to continue watching a recipe or fast forward or stop a video, or especially for use by people who have motor problems.

Much of the blame for the fact that AI makes more sense in this terminal is due to the processor with which it works, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Being one of the best chips of the moment, the one from Qualcomm improves the performance of the device by 30%. CPU and 25% of the GPU compared to last year's chip.

In the AI ​​section, it is the Qualcomm AI Engine that guarantees fluid and stable performance.

Another strong point of the new Honor Magic 6 Pro is the battery. Specifically, Honor has opted for a second-generation 5,600mAh Silicon-carbon battery powered by a chip that improves its performance even in extreme temperatures. For example, users can record 11 minutes of video at -20°C with 10% battery.

In addition, it has 80W fast charging and 66W wireless charging, which allows you to charge your phone to 100% in 40 minutes.

As for the screen, we are looking at a high-end terminal with a 6.8-inch LTPO OLED panel with a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz.

Additionally, Honor has incorporated several features such as dynamic dimming, customizable circadian night display, natural tone display, and pulse width modulation (PWM) technology to enhance content display. In addition, it includes the Honor NanoCrystal Shield, which according to the brand is the most drop-resistant screen glass in the industry to date.

In terms of cameras, the Magic 6 Pro boasts an AI-powered Falcon camera system, which Honor says is comparable to a professional camera. In total, it includes 3 lenses, a 50Mpx wide-angle camera, a 50Mpx ultra-wide-angle camera and a 180Mpx telephoto lens. As for zoom, it reaches 2.5x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom.

What is clear is that Honor wants to remain in the first division of mobile phones and compete with the giants in the sector to gain a foothold, and terminals like the Magic 6 Pro are the way to do so.

Although at the moment the king is the Magic 6 Pro, Honor has also taken advantage of the event within the framework of the MWC in Barcelona to announce the MagicBook Pro 16, a laptop equipped with AI. This equipment, which at the moment is not going to arrive in Spain, uses AI to improve performance and the way in which the equipment is used.

Likewise, the Chinese company has also shown the new Honor Pad 9, a tablet available today in Spain from 299 euros with the initial launch offer.

HONOR Magic6 Pro is available today in black and Epi green, starting at 1,299 euros, but there will be a launch offer.

Users who buy the phone before March 10 will get a coupon for 300 euros off and 6 months of free screen protection.

Two bargain parquet floors will also be sold. The first includes the Magic 6 Pro, the Pad

The second package includes the phone, a Watch 4 watch, the case, the charger and the discount coupon for €1099.8.

Likewise, Honor has announced a new version of its folding phone, the PORSCHE DESIGN HONOR Magic V2 RSR, available in gray in Spain at the end of this quarter and beginning of the next for €2,699.