Honor is the latest phone brand to hop on Google’s gen AI bandwagon

Summary

• Honor partners with Google Cloud for AI features on upcoming smartphones, as announced at the Viva Technology 2024 event.
• Four-Layer AI Architecture is being integrated into MagicOS for smart personalization and generative AI applications.
• The Honor 200 series, launching June 12, will feature AI-enhanced Portrait mode and a partnership with Studio Harcourt.

Honor might not be the most popular smartphone maker in the West, but the company creates some of the most interesting smartphones and innovations. The company recently demoed a car controlled by eye tracking and was one of the first brands to use high-density silicon-carbon batteries in smartphones. Now, at the Viva Technology 2024 event in Paris this week, Honor announced a partnership with Google Cloud to bring generative AI experiences to its upcoming smartphones.

This isn’t the first time an Android smartphone maker has partnered with Google Cloud to bring AI features to their phones. Samsung did the same with the Galaxy S24 series, while Google also uses its own Gemini model to power AI features on the Pixel 8 series. Honor has now joined this trend by partnering with Google Cloud to bring AI features to their phones. However, it’s not yet confirmed if the Chinese smartphone brand will use any of Google’s Gemini models for these features.

Alongside announcing the partnership with Google, Honor also unveiled its own Four-Layer AI Architecture integrated into MagicOS, Honor’s Android skin. The first layer, Cross-device and Cross-OS AI, enables the sharing of computing power and services across devices. The second layer is Platform-level AI that bring “smart personalization” to the OS, while App-level AI focuses on “powerful generative AI applications.” The fourth layer is Cloud-AI services, likely powered by Google, which promises faster data processing while maintaining privacy.

Honor 200 series launch date also revealed

Honor also revealed that the next smartphone to use this four-layer AI engine will be the Honor 200, the successor to last year’s Honor 90, with an “AI-enhanced Portrait” experience. The company has partnered with French portrait specialist Studio Harcourt to create a dedicated portrait mode that uses AI to replicate its iconic black-and-white portraits.

The Honor 200 series will launch in Paris on June 12, 2024. The smartphone series is first expected to make a debut in its home country, China, on May 27, followed by the global launch in June. According to rumors, the Honor 200 will feature a curved-edge OLED display, a 50MP main camera, a telephoto lens with up to 50x zoom, a 5,200mAh battery, and 100W wired charging.