Honor's MWC 2025 Grand Launch: Alpha Strategy and MagicV4 Lead the Foldable Phone Revolution

Honor's MWC 2025 Grand Launch: Alpha Strategy and MagicV4 Lead the Foldable Phone RevolutionOn the evening of February 17th, Honor's official Weibo account released a major announcement: the unveiling of Honor's new Alpha strategy at MWC 2025. This is Honor's first major launch event since Zhao Ming's departure, helmed by the new CEO, Li Jian

Honor's MWC 2025 Grand Launch: Alpha Strategy and MagicV4 Lead the Foldable Phone Revolution

On the evening of February 17th, Honor's official Weibo account released a major announcement: the unveiling of Honor's new Alpha strategy at MWC 2025. This is Honor's first major launch event since Zhao Ming's departure, helmed by the new CEO, Li Jian. The biggest highlight is undoubtedly the Alpha strategy, closely integrated with AI technology, and the unveiling of details about the Honor MagicV4 foldable phone. Lei Technology will send a reporting team to Barcelona to cover MWC 2025 and provide first-hand information on the Honor launch event and the MagicV4.

Honor MagicV4: Heritage and Innovation, Continuing the Foldable Legend

In the first half of 2025, Honor will launch several new products according to its planned product roadmap, including the Honor 400 series, Honor MagicV4, and MagicV Flip2. The highly anticipated flagship product, the Honor MagicV4, is the first flagship phone since Zhao Ming's departure, and its performance will directly impact Honor's future development.

As one of the Chinese smartphone manufacturers with the largest investment in foldable phones, Honor has achieved remarkable success in this field. The Honor MagicV series has consistently driven industry innovation: the MagicV pioneered the ultra-thin suspended waterdrop hinge, solving the issues of flatness and creases; the MagicV3 set a record for the thinnest foldable phone; and the MagicVs opened up new market space with its high cost-performance ratio in the 7K price range.

The Honor MagicV4 will continue this tradition of innovation and strive to overcome existing limitations. First, battery life will be significantly improved. While the MagicV3's 5150mAh battery performed well, the increasing computational demands of the SoC, AI, and imaging leave a 5000mAh battery somewhat insufficient. Therefore, the MagicV4 is expected to feature a massive 6000mAh battery, aiming to create the foldable phone with the best battery life.

While pursuing long battery life, the MagicV4 will continue to explore the ultimate in thin and light design. Honor's third-generation Qinghai Lake battery boasts 10% silicon content, a 4.4% reduction in thickness compared to its predecessor, resulting in an average thickness of approximately 2.6mm. The MagicV4 is expected to utilize the fourth-generation Qinghai Lake battery, further increasing silicon content and reducing thickness. Despite the increased battery capacity, the MagicV4 is unlikely to significantly increase in thickness, with its 9.2mm thickness already leading in the current foldable phone market. Of course, should models like the OPPO Find N5 break this record, Honor may continue to push for even thinner designs.

In addition to long battery life and a thin and light body, the Honor MagicV4 will be equipped with other flagship-level hardware configurations. It will likely be the first foldable phone to feature a full-blooded Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (likely referring to the top-tier variant). In terms of imaging, the MagicV3 featured a 50MP main camera, 50MP telephoto lens, and 40MP ultrawide lens. While hardware upgrades for the MagicV4 might be relatively modest, Honor's "Da Wang Imaging" technology, launched earlier this year, is expected to significantly improve its imaging performance. "Da Wang Imaging" uses a dual-processing system with local and cloud-based models to optimize image quality with limited hardware.

Thinness and long battery life are the biggest highlights of the MagicV4's hardware, and the most sought-after upgrades for foldable phone users. In terms of software experience, Honor will unveil major new features at MWC 2025, which the Lei Technology reporting team will cover live.

Honor's Leadership Change: Foldable Phone Strategy Under the Alpha Strategy

Zhao Ming's departure and Li Jian's appointment have sparked speculation about the future direction of Honor, particularly its foldable phone business. As Honor's most competitive product category, the strategic direction of its foldable phones is under intense scrutiny.

Zhao Ming previously stated that Honor's foldable phone strategy centers on technological innovation, using differentiation to compete against rivals. Honor is currently the only brand besides Huawei to offer three foldable phone form factors: outward-folding, inward-folding, and vertical folding, and there have been rumors of a triple-folding phone.

Technological innovation is the greatest advantage of Honor's foldable phones. The Honor MagicV2 and MagicV3 achieved record-breaking thinness for inward-folding phones at 9.9mm and 9.1mm respectively, demonstrating Honor's innovation in material science and phone design. The MagicV4 and MagicVs will continue this focus on thinness as a differentiation strategy, while also upgrading other hardware configurations.

Honor's foldable phone product lineup is also relatively well-balanced. The MagicV3 series starts at 8999 yuan, while the MagicVs series starts at 6999 yuan, covering high-end and mid-to-high-end user groups. The MagicV Purse and MagicV Flip target fashion-conscious and female consumers with their handbag and compact designs respectively. Honor's foldable phones essentially cover all consumer segments, leading to a steady increase in its global market share in 2024. In the Chinese market, Honor's foldable phone market share reached 21%, ranking among the top five in the >$600 high-end segment. In Western Europe, Honor even surpassed Samsung to become the market leader.

The Honor MagicV4, as the flagship product, will continue the strengths of Honor's foldable phones, such as AI, long battery life, and a thin and light design. It will emphasize AI imaging and AI assistant features, using "Da Wang Imaging" technology and the DeepSeek-R1 deep thinking model to deliver a more stunning imaging experience and richer AI functionality.

Thinness remains an important trend in the 2025 smartphone market. Flagship models like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, OPPO Find N5, and iPhone 17 Slim all emphasize thin and light designs. The MagicV4, with its combination of long battery life and a thin design, is poised to trigger a new wave of innovation.

Honor's leadership change will have little impact on the overall direction of its smartphone business. In the four years since its independence, Honor has established its brand image, product positioning, and distribution channels. AI-powered smartphones and differentiated foldable phones remain its core strengths.

Is the Honor MagicV4 Worth Buying?

Currently, limited official information is available on the Honor MagicV4, particularly regarding key aspects like the hinge, battery life, and thinness. If you value AI experiences, it's recommended to follow the MWC 2025 launch event, where Honor will reveal more details. The Lei Technology MWC reporting team will be present at Honor's first overseas launch of 2025. Stay tuned.