Honor CEO Zhao Ming suggested that the company’s upcoming rumored flip phone will be different from the ones already available in the market.
Talks about Honor launching its first clamshell phone have been circulating around the web for quite some time now. Several leaks and claims have been made involving the alleged creation, but the company still hasn’t confirmed any of them.
Nevertheless, the brand CEO finally addressed the rumors about the phone during the series launch conference for the Honor 200. Zhao remained secretive about the phone’s specifics, even about its name, but the executive hinted that it would be an entirely unique flip phone.
“I think that many times, it is a lack of imagination and value exploration is not enough,” Zhao said at the conference. “Honor is different from others in many fields. This time, we are also thinking and conceiving our solutions for small folding screens along this logic.”
This follows an earlier statement from the CEO, revealing that the model is “internally in the final stage” now, ensuring fans that its 2024 debut is finally certain. After this, a render shared by a Chinese leaker surfaced online, showing the back of the alleged “Honor Magic Flip.” The image shows a smartphone with a huge external screen. The display covers half of the back, specifically the upper portion of the flippable phone’s rear. Two holes can be seen placed vertically in the upper left section, while the lower part of the back sports a layer of leather material with the Honor brand printed on the bottom.
After that, a patent idea of the company, which was recently approved in China, surfaced. From the images shown, it appears the brand will opt for a whole new different design for the unnamed device. Unlike today’s flip phones with smooth corners, the images show a phone with an edgy design. Specifically, it seems to apply low-polygon modeling, making the corners of the phone appear unique.
It is unknown what design the phone will employ, but it can be assumed that it will be impressive and powerful in other areas, especially now that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is expected to launch this year. Earlier, Zhao also hinted at the company’s plan to inject AI into its future smartphones. It is not a certainty that the Honor flip phone will be equipped with AI, but the recent efforts (like its Llama 2 AI-based chatbot demo and the AI eye-tracking feature of the Magic 6 Pro handset at MWC 2024) of the company indicate that it is now ready to push the move to its next devices.
