Tech companies from all over the world have gathered in Barcelona, Spain, for the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 event. They’re showing off their newest gadgets and cool technologies, and everyone’s attention is over there. At MWC, Honor revealed its plans to enter the foldable flip phone market.
George Zhao, CEO of Honor, told CNBC that the company is set to introduce a vertical-folding style smartphone (a foldable flip phone) this year. This move marks Honor’s entry into the trend popularised by tech firms such as Samsung and Motorola.
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Introducing a flip foldable aligns with Honor’s strategic shift towards the premium segment of the market, where it aims to compete with industry giants such as Samsung and Apple.
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“This year we are preparing for the flip phone launch — now that we are internally in the final stage,” George Zhao, CEO of Honor, was quoted as saying.
“We are very positive about foldables for the future,” Zhao added.
Honor has already established its presence in the foldable phone market with several offerings, including the Honor Magic V2 which debuted last year. However, it’s worth noting that all of Honor’s existing foldable phones feature the book-style folding design.
Entering into flip foldables will introduce Honor to a distinct pricing tier. Flip-style phones, like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5, typically carry more affordable price tags compared to horizontal-style folding devices.
Foldable devices are seen as high-end offerings within the smartphone industry. Counterpoint Research suggests that sales of premium smartphones, priced above $600, likely experienced growth in 2023, even as the overall smartphone market declined. This trend underscores one of the reasons why Honor is strategically targeting the high-end market.
Similar to many other device manufacturers at MWC, Honor emphasised the potential of AI during the event. Zhao highlighted that the true value of AI will come when a device can predict user preferences and actions.
“In the future, Honor’s strategy is AI to reconstruct the user interaction. It will be intent-based, the user interaction. So maybe when you interact with your phone, it can understand what is your requirement,” Zhao said.
