The Honor Magic V5 is just over a week away from its international launch, and in the meantime, I had the chance to sit down with one of the most knowledgeable people concerning the company’s upcoming foldable: Honor’s Senior Product Expert, Hope Cao.
In a nutshell, the Magic V5 is Honour’s latest book-style foldable. It’s already on sale in China, with its wider launch scheduled for August 28.
Its claim to fame is that it hits the market as “the world’s thinnest book-style foldable,” (even if Honor has had to defend this claim a few times already), and looks tailor-made to trump the likes of the Oppo Find N5, and the fresh-faced Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7; namely thanks to more powerful and plentiful underlying hardware.
In a private group interview with Cao (speaking via a translator), I was given the opportunity to quiz him on Honor’s current focus in the smartphone space, as well as more specific aspects of the Honor Magic V5’s creation, and one thing that stood out to me was mention of AI being used in the phone’s development and manufacture.
The [AI] model learns how different combinations of components affect the flatness, precision, and mechanical performance of the final product
Hope Cao, Honor Senior Product Expert
AI integration within the smartphone experience isn’t new; it’s been increasingly prevalent over the last few years, but almost every example of AI so far has only ever been software-related. Based on Cao’s words, the V5 represents the first time a phone maker has openly turned to AI in the creation of its hardware.
It seems the V5’s hinge mechanism required some AI assistance in order to ensure correct assembly and alignment of what is likely one of the most complex parts of any foldable’s construction.
“Even though each component is manufactured within strict engineering tolerances, there will inevitably be minor variations, some parts may be at the upper or lower bounds of the tolerance range. When multiple parts are assembled together, these small deviations can accumulate, resulting in issues such as a lack of flatness or even long-term deformation, which ultimately impacts durability and the user experience,” Cao explains.
Any solution a particular AI model can come up with is only ever as good as the data on which it’s been trained. In the case of Honor’s model, Cao says that it’s been fed the learnings the company gleaned while manufacturing the thousands of previous entries of the Magic V series. That means this latest model is an expert suited explicitly to designing Honor foldables.
“We trained our AI model using a large volume of historical assembly data. The model learns how different combinations of components affect the flatness, precision, and mechanical performance of the final product. This allows it to predict which part combinations will yield optimal results.”
To further improve Honor’s AI model’s data set, each one of the components required by foldables like the V5 is also digitised so that the model can then effectively visualise different potential hardware configurations and component choices, effectively deciding which is the ‘right tool for the job’, as Cao details here:
“Before entering the assembly line, every individual component undergoes high-resolution 3D scanning to capture its precise geometry. These 3D profiles are uploaded to a centralised database. During assembly, our AI algorithm analyses all available component data in real time and intelligently selects the most compatible parts to be paired together, ensuring optimal fit and structural alignment.”
Some of the more experimental formats – like tri-fold devices and other innovative concepts – are already being tested in our labs
Hope Cao, Honor Senior Product Expert
Having tested the Magic V5 for the past month already, I can attest to the benefits of Honor’s efforts in creating a flatter main display. While the crease is still present, this AI-assisted manufacturing looks to have helped further iron out the visible ridge present on the display layer of the V5, compared to like-minded rivals from Oppo, Google and Samsung.
“By using this AI manufacturing, we’re able to significantly improve the flatness and mechanical consistency between the hinge and frame, resulting in better structural integrity in both folded and unfolded states, and improving the overall durability of the device.”
What does the next chapter hold for Honor’s foldables?
In my time with Cao, the Magic V5’s hinge obviously wasn’t the only thing we talked about. While insights into the company’s engineering advancements and refinement on the Magic V formula were appreciated, invariably, the biggest question that everyone wants answered is what’s next for the series.
Is Honor exploring other foldable design directions? Has it considered a tri-fold to combat the likes of the Huawei Mate XT, portless designs or ways of making their specific foldable experience more affordable?
“When it comes to foldable devices, we’ve been exploring the space quite extensively,” Cao began. “Some of the more experimental formats you mentioned, like tri-fold devices and other innovative concepts, are already being tested in our labs. Whether these concepts will eventually make it to commercial release depends on several factors: actual user demand, technical reliability, cost considerations, and overall user experience.”
As for how Honor’s software – including its AI experiences – might evolve, the company’s product expert stated, “We are also developing our own AI models that are customised for specific user scenarios. Some AI capabilities will come from external partners, while others are internally developed. Ultimately, our goal is to combine in-house R&D with external partnerships to deliver a seamless and powerful AI experience that elevates the overall user journey. That’s the strategy we’re pursuing.”
Where is Honor taking its foldables next? If the intentions of the company’s wider Alpha Plan didn’t already make it apparent, it sounds like AI is only going to increase in prevalence across the Honor smartphone experience, both inside and out.
The company already works closely with Google on the development of its Android-based MagicOS user experience, but mention of “external partnerships” could see future entries in the Magic V lineup boasting tighter integration with the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Perplexity and beyond.
