Honor Reportedly Working on a Flip Phone, Planned to Be Launched Later This Year

Honor CEO George Zhao also said in an interview that the company is working on a smart ring.

Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 29 February 2024 12:45 IST

Honor Reportedly Working on a Flip Phone, Planned to Be Launched Later This Year

Photo Credit: Honor

The Honor Ring will have a broader focus on health tracking

Highlights

Honor CEO said at MWC 2024 that the flip phone is in its final stages
The foldable smartphone is reportedly named Honor Magic V Flip
Honor’s smart ring will be paired with AI-enabled apps

Honor has made several new announcements at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 in Barcelona. The company launched the Honor Magic 6 series and foldable Honor Magic V2 lineup in international markets, and showcased its on-device artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. The Chinese smartphone maker also revealed that it is working on a clamshell-styled flip phone that will be launched later this year, and that it was looking to further expand its portfolio via a smart ring which was also in works.

In an interview with CNBC at the event, Honor CEO George Zhao was asked if a flip phone is also in works, after the smartphone maker held the global debut of the folding Honor Magic V2 series. In response, Zhao said, “This year we are preparing for the flip phone launch — now that we are internally in the final stage.” He also emphasised that the company felt confident about the future of foldable handsets and wanted to invest in it. “I believe this will create some market gap for newer vendors to enter or expand in the flip segment and test out the market,” he added.

Details about an Honor smartphone with a horizontal hinge and clamshell design have been circulating since August last year. A report highlighted that the phone could be called Honor Magic V Flip but not much in terms of specification has surfaced. Tipster Digital Chat Station (via GSMArena) claimed that the smartphone could be backed by a 4,500mAh battery, which could make it the largest battery capacity on a flip phone. At present, the Oppo Find N3 Flip with 4,300mAh battery takes the crown.

Samsung Wins Patent for a Tri-Fold Smartphone With Specialised Barrier Layer for Improved Durability

Zhao also teased that the company was working on a smart ring in the interview. He said, “Internally, we have this kind of solution, now we are working on that part, so in the future you can have the Honor ring.” Honor Ring could just be what the wearable is called. The timing of the information was also interesting as it came just days after the Samsung Galaxy Ring was officially showcased for the first time at MWC.

However, Honor is looking at an AI-enabled health focused device with the Honor Ring. Explaining the company's vision with the smart ring, the CEO said that the wearable will be paired with AI-enabled apps that will offer professional training courses based on habits and health data tracked by the device. “I think AI will transform this kind of applications,” he added.

Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 the best foldable phone you can buy in India right now? We discuss the company's new clamshell-style foldable handset on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Honor Magic 6

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display 6.78-inch

Processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

Front Camera 50-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 50-megapixel + 32-megapixel

RAM 12GB

Storage 256GB

Battery Capacity 5450mAh

OS Android 14

Resolution 1264x2800 pixels

More Honor mobiles Honor mobiles price in India

Honor Magic V2

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display (Primary) 7.92-inch

Front Camera 16-megapixel

Rear Camera 50-megapixel + 50-megapixel + 20-megapixel

Battery Capacity 5000mAh

OS Android 13

Resolution 2344x2156 pixels

More Honor mobiles Honor mobiles price in India

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Honor, Honor Ring, Honor flip phone, MWC 2024

Akash Dutta Email Akash Dutta

Akash Dutta is a Senior Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More