By Alex Omenye
The Chinese technology company Honor on Sunday globally unveiled its latest Magic 6 Pro smartphone, showcasing an experimental eye-tracking AI function that empowers users to remotely control and move their cars simply by gazing at their phone screens.
This feature is currently available in China, with plans for commercial integration overseas.
Honor, previously under Huawei Technologies until its sale in November 2020 and now owned by state-owned Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co, exclusively released the new phone in China.
The launch precedes the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where tech and telecom companies aim to capitalize on the buzz around generative AI to boost business prospects.
In their pursuit to invigorate the smartphone market, companies are leveraging the excitement surrounding AI, acknowledging potential legal and ethical concerns associated with generative AI.
Competing with industry giants like Apple and Oppo for a share of China’s smartphone market, Honor is also working on the global integration of the LlaMA 2 large language model, a tool similar to ChatGPT, into its phones.
According to the International Data Corporation, in 2023, Apple held a 17.3% market share in China, closely followed by Honor with 17.1%.
In addition to the smartphone launch, Honor unveiled its new MagicBook Pro 16 laptop on Sunday, featuring an AI function that enables users to seamlessly move applications, such as messaging apps, between devices—such as from an Android smartphone to a Windows PC—with a single drag.
George Zhao, the company’s CEO, emphasized their belief in the transformative power of collaborative synergy, particularly in the era of AI.
