On September 8th, at the World INS Conference 2018 held in Beijing, Mr. George Zhao, President of Honor, delivered his keynote speech “Smartphone Innovations in the Age of 5G” and unveiled Honor’s first 5G smartphone to be released in 2019. For the smartphone industry, 5G will be a turning point that marks the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI). George predicted that mobile carriers who can overcome technical difficulties and offer a thorough solution will become the top players to lead the 5G era.
As an industry expert who started out in the carrier business, George shared his unique perspective of the rapid growth in telecommunication networks. From his viewpoint, the progress from 3G to 4G, and now 5G, has charted two decade-long cycles, each involving three levels of contributors. The first involves standard and core patent initiators such as Huawei. The second are those who provide and verify solutions that promote network development (Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Qualcomm), and the third are smartphone brands based on 5G solution providers as well as manufacturers of 5G application services who create all kinds of apps.
Both Huawei and Honor have been deeply involved in all three levels, playing a fundamental role in driving the ten trillion-dollar (USD) value 5G industry, in which they took a head start with the tactical planning of 5G devices, thereby acquiring a wealth of information, technical and competitive predominance compared to the rest of the industry. Other smartphone brands are left at the outer edge of the third level, with shortcomings that include the delay of information, inadequate technical resources and, therefore, an incomplete solution.
In addition, as an end-to-end ecosystem, 5G will build a society with full mobility while remaining fully connected, bridging the gap between the virtual world and reality seamlessly. AI and 5G are intertwined and act as a catalyst for each other’s development in this era, while the perfection of AI will accelerate with the help of 5G technology. Honor is ahead of its competitors in touching upon AI technology and has been successful in maintaining this lead of more than half a year.
Huawei, a leading telecoms network vendor and contributor of the 5G standard-setting, has been actively exploring 5G technology since 2009. While other brands were still competing for market share and attention of consumers, Huawei took the initiative in bettering their intelligent terminals, telecommunication network and cloud computing, while Honor also become one of the first to lead the trend.
This year, Honor has launched several mobile products with groundbreaking technologies, including the GPU/CPU Turbo and THE NINE liquid cooling technologies. To some extent, this is the pre-5G era which is about the optimization of current equipment and technologies, planning and practicing for the advent of 5G, tackling the challenges that occur during the development of 5G phones such as processing capability, operation handling and power consumption.
Nevertheless, in order to embrace the big change of 5G, Honor’s mobile phones have surpassed far beyond these steps:
- In 2016, Honor released the world’s first AI mobile phone, Honor Magic. Honor explored AI technology systematically and developed Honor Magic earlier than the brand became independent from Huawei.
- In 2017, the Honor V10 was launched as Honor explored the technology of chip.
- In 2018, Honor launched the Honor 10 and the HiAI mobile computing platform, which currently defines the standard AI smartphone 2.0 we know today.
In addition, the upcoming Honor Magic 2, which is embedded with the perfection of technology, was recently unveiled at IFA 2018 in Germany, and caught the attention of technology media worldwide. Besides carrying AI technology, Kirin 980 is the first 5G solution-ready commercial chipset, which users can choose to use Balong 5000 Modem to seamlessly adapt to 5G. Magic Slide Full-Screen Display with the minimalist sliding structure brings almost 100% full-screen view while offering a 40W SuperCharge with a safer and better battery experience at the same time. The above features are only a preview, and more will be disclosed at the official launch.
In 2018, Honor displayed aggressive performance worldwide and saw explosive growth, which also drove Huawei to excel in its business. But the sales in both the domestic and overseas markets are obviously not Honor’s current priority and goal, but rather are the “additional products” that were achieved because of its continuous planning for the future.
The current stage of Honor phones is dominating the market in terms of technical specifications and sales achievements. The first Huawei and Honor 5G smartphones will be released next year. The first phone to be launched will be the Honor device, propelling the Honor brand to become a top-five smartphone brand by 2020 and top-three brand by 2022.
About Honor
Honor is a leading smartphone e-brand. In line with its slogan, “For the Brave”, the brand was created to meet the needs of digital natives through internet-optimized products that offer superior user experiences, inspire action, foster creativity and empower the young to achieve their dreams. In doing this, Honor has set itself apart by showcasing its own bravery to do things differently and to take the steps needed to usher in the latest technologies and innovations for it’s customers.
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