Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor announces a US$10 billion investment in AI over the next five years at MWC 2025. The company also deepened its ties with Google to bolster its market share overseas.
Honor's strategy involves embedding AI into its hardware. In addition, some of the investment will go into preparing for the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) era.
Industry insiders view Honor's increasingly close tie-up with Google as a big step. An industry expert says, “Previously, Google seemed to be keeping Chinese phone manufacturers at arm's length when it came to the most sophisticated parts of Gemini AI. But Honor's new alliance brings it in line with Samsung's Galaxy and Google's Pixel devices, and that is a big deal."
Since its separation from Huawei in 2020 over US sanctions imposed on its previous parent, Honor has been trying to increase its presence outside China. The brand has its eyes on the high-end smartphone segment, which Apple and Samsung currently lead.
Based on IDC data, showing steady growth in its overseas efforts, Honor's international market share outside China rose from 1.7% in 2023 to 2.3% in 2024.
As part of its global expansion, Honor is strengthening its partnership with Google. Honor is using Google Gemini to drive the AI capabilities on its new devices.
Honor also committed to seven years of Android operating system support and security updates for its flagship Magic series smartphones. With this degree of dedication, Honor is comparable to the only other smartphone makers that provide this kind of prolonged support, Samsung's Galaxy S series and Google's Pixel series.
During MWC 2025, Honor also presented a prototype AI agent. The agent demonstrated the ability to perform complex tasks, such as making restaurant bookings based on user preferences. The company is working in partnership with Google and Qualcomm on this technology but has not released a time frame for when it will go on sale.
It remains to be seen how the rivalry of Honor with premium brands will shape the future of AI smartphones.