The UAE, Saudi Arabia and other MENA countries are key markets for Honor’s overall global strategy, with focus not just on smartphones but the entire spectrum of devices, a key Honor executive said on Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, George Zhao, CEO of Honor Device Co. Ltd, told Gulf News: “When we launched our devices in the region earlier this year, the sales exceeded our expectations. That gave us an idea of the demand for our devices in the region.

“Honor is fully committed to the MENA region, and we will deliver the full product portfolio, from smartphones to tabs and laptops to smartwatches. We will offer everything in this market.”

What is Honor’s key focus as a technology company?

Innovation with a human touch is at the centre of our approach. Whether you look at our interconnectivity between devices using the Magic Ring service or the call privacy feature or even the antenna designs, you will see that at the heart of all this is a better user experience. That’s what makes us stand out compared to our competitors. That’s something other brands are not doing.

As smartphone components get more expensive, how will it impact your pricing strategy? Many customers may not be willing to pay more given the inflationary scenario right now.

As a brand, we cannot combine economics and consumers. We have to keep ourselves motivated and keep inventing and innovating. We believe that if we can provide the right value to our consumers, they will buy our products. You have to keep making things better.

Let’s take the Honor Magic5 Pro for instance. It’s your top-of-the-line smartphone offering.

Yes, it is. But it’s also the most innovative smartphone we have launched till date. Whether you talk about privacy software, the AI-enabled features or the Falcon camera system that offers 100x zoom, the customer is getting a great product.

Which are the other key markets Honor is focusing on?

Honor has a very strong presence in China, and is rapidly increasing its market share in other countries. Malaysia, Europe and Latin America are some examples. We have been very successful in Europe and have been fulfilling customer requirements. US, on the other hand, is a challenging market and we are working hard on it.

Tell us about brand recognition. It’s been over two years since Honor separated from Huawei. How has the journey been?

Internally, we work with the spirit that Honor is a startup company. We have had to build our operations from scratch. We are working hard to enter new markets and consolidate our foothold in existing markets. We are getting better each day. We have also been expanding our team internally to cater to these markets. We do face a lot of challenges, but the journey is really exciting.

What are your views on AI chatbots such as ChatGPT?

That’s a fantastic technology. It’s being talked about everywhere and so many people are using it. The smartphone industry can take some positives from it. How can AI can be used to enhance user experience? For instance, AI motion sensing technology in Honor will automatically capture the best moment. You no longer need a human presence to try to capture the best moment, which may pass in an instant.

We’ve seen that Honor launches in China happen earlier than global launches. What’s the reason for this? Most other brands launch across markets simultaneously.

It’s intended to be a combined solution across all markets. Right now it happens separately because we need to work with individual markets, hardware and software partners. Look at Europe, for instance. We have an open-market software and then the operators have some special requirements. We have to meet the requirements for all markets individually. But we are improving our efficiency day after day. I do believe that these launch gaps will be very close in the near future.

Honor believes in a ‘glocal’ approach. We work closely with our partners, our suppliers in international markets, thereby contributing to job creation as well.

You also unveiled your foldable Magic Vs smartphone at the MWC. How do you see the evolution of foldable smartphones in the next few years?

The phone industry has been constantly innovating over the past 20 years. Today, smartphones are multiple devices rolled into one. They have front and back cameras, recording facilities, complex apps, and the devices are becoming more and more powerful every year. So today, foldable phones can be considered something like a smartphone and tablet rolled into one. You get two different user experiences. But today foldable phones are heavier, thicker, their battery life is a challenge. So the future will be something that can improve upon these shortcomings.

Do you see foldable phones taking over the market, or will they co-exist with regular smartphones?

The general smartphones and the foldable ones will coexist in the long term. If you see why people use foldable smartphones, it’s mostly for business-related things like working on a presentation or a spreadsheet. These requirements will exist, and so will a consumer base for them.

What steps is Honor taking to become a more eco-friendly company?

Being eco-friendly is very important for us. We are very particular about environmental impact throughout the process, right from procurement of supplies to manufacturing to shipping it to our consumers. We are also constantly improving our processes and innovating for better efficiency. For instance, we are focusing on reducing power consumption by improving battery life across our devices. The type of material used in the devices is also important. We have a dedicated R&D team working on this. We also discuss this regularly with our partners. For instance, we don’t provide chargers in the box with a select range of our devices in Europe. But this needs global cooperation.