Honor says foldables won’t replace bar phones as it sees strong growth in Europe

Honor was arguably the star of MWC 2023 in Barcelona, ​​with the company unveiling its Magic5 and Magic5 Pro and announcing the Magic Vs global rollout. to discuss the company’s plan for the future.

George Zhao

Discussing Honor Magic5 Pro and Honor Magic Vs, Zhao confirmed that both will get 3 years of Android upgrades and 5 years of security patches. More excitingly, he said the Magic Vs will be hitting global store shelves in the next quarter, finally giving the Galaxy Fold lineup some competition.

The executive said his team sees Europe as a second home and his company sees 2023 as its 1 year here, as it has only now managed to put together a strong lineup of phones for sale in the Old Continent. The company plans to open physical stores internally, but prefers to stick with carriers and retail partners until it builds an even stronger portfolio.

There is now an R&D and product center that operates specifically in Europe, which would help the brand grow.

This is not such good news for the US market. George Zhao confirmed Honor’s step-by-step approach and since the US market is difficult to enter, the company will need more time to prepare.

We spent some time with the new flagship Honor Magic5 Pro (seen here in Glacier Blue)

The Honor Magic Vs is one of the lightest foldables with a vertical hinge, and that’s what Honor was looking for when development started. Zhao said he believes the future of foldables should be used as a mix of tablets and smartphones, and after addressing the weight issue, he will also work to deliver thinner devices with better battery life. .

Zhao predicts foldable sales will really explode when they manage to shed enough weight and shed a few more millimeters, but doesn’t think they’ll entirely replace bar phones. Instead, it expects them to coexist long term, as different users have different priorities. Likewise, he thinks there will be enough demand for clamshells and horizontal folds and that both form factors will be around for quite some time to come.