Honor is betting big on artificial intelligence for its next flagship lineup. The upcoming Magic 8 series is now expected to debut with a dedicated AI button, which is a first for the brand.
The leak first appeared on Weibo via tipster The director of the factory is classmate Guan, who shared images comparing the Honor Magic 8's flat-frame design to Apple's iPhone 17. The images highlight a new side-mounted button that is believed to be a quick trigger key for AI functions, like the AI Plus Key on the OnePlus 13s and Essential Key on the Nothing Phone 3.
Adding weightage to the leak, the brand's CEO, Li Jian, teases "self-evolving" hardware and software on the Honor Magic 8, which is designed to learn, adapt and grow alongside its users. Further, he said the new phones are being designed as "AI-native devices" built on three pillars.
These include growth-oriented hardware that adapts to the user's needs, a self-learning MagicOS 10 powered by Honor's MagicGUI multimodal AI model and a next-gen ecosystem that delivers seamless cross-device connectivity.
Li framed the Honor Magic 8 lineup as the beginning of an "AI self-evolution" era, where smartphones can continuously learn and improve in real time. The Honor Magic 8 lineup is expected to launch later this year, potentially competing directly with other AI-driven flagships from Apple, Samsung and Google.
With the addition of the physical dedicated AI button and a big focus on adaptive intelligence, Honor is signalling that it wants to set itself apart in a market that has started taking it all seriously.
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