For Honor to go public, it still has to "chew through the tough bones".

In the past six months, Honor has entered the "accelerated pursuit" mode.

First, in June, it launched the Honor 400 series, a mid - range light flagship mobile phone. Several senior executives also appeared at the press conference to respond to doubts. Then, on July 4, it released the latest AI - powered thin and light flagship foldable phone, the Magic V5. A few days later, on July 15, Honor launched the X70 series of mobile phones.

The press conference of Honor Magic V5. Image source: Honor's official website

Launching three mobile phones in less than two months means that Honor is eager to showcase the company's latest R & D achievements and strive to regain the market share it lost in the first half of the year.

Recently, the much - anticipated listing plan of Honor has also made new progress.

On June 26, the online service platform (in trial operation) of the China Securities Regulatory Commission showed that Honor had initiated the record - filing for listing guidance, and the guidance institution was CITIC Securities. The record - filing report for listing guidance shows that Honor's listing guidance work is divided into three stages, lasting from June 2025 to March 2026.

All the information released by Honor is sending a signal to the outside world: Honor is ready to start anew.

Meanwhile, in order to successfully list in the future and obtain a higher valuation, Honor cannot give up on any of the "tough nuts" that can help it break through the current situation but require a great deal of effort to overcome: it must continue to develop AI - powered mobile phones, strive for high - end positioning, and maintain its sales volume.

However, despite Honor's positive and aggressive attitude, and the news that the Honor 400 series has sold well in the market, there are still challenges ahead.

In terms of high - end positioning and AI - powered mobile phones, Honor entered the market relatively early. However, as more and more players join, each segment is becoming increasingly crowded. It is also getting more and more difficult to break through the technological bottlenecks of mobile phone products. Honor needs to demonstrate its differential advantages to gain an edge in the current situation.

Honor has undergone management adjustments, and the new team needs to answer new questions: how to restore sales volume and how to boost the confidence of the capital market?

Honor is still "relentlessly pursuing" AI - powered mobile phones

"Whether a mobile phone can win users, the market, and the future largely depends on whether it can transform application technologies in the shortest possible time, especially in the field of 'artificial intelligence + mobile phones'. In other words, for the mobile phone industry, artificial intelligence is an opportunity for leap - forward development. Those who seize it will lead the way, while those who miss it are likely to be eliminated."

This is a quote from an article published by Zhao Ming, the former CEO of Honor, in People's Daily in 2018. This statement may also be the main reason why all enterprises are now accelerating their layout in the field of AI - powered mobile phones.

In the current mobile phone market, many players are telling AI stories.

Data released by Canalys shows that in 2024, 16% of global smartphone shipments were AI - powered mobile phones. By 2028, this proportion is expected to soar to 54%. From 2023 to 2028, the AI - powered mobile phone market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 63%.

Honor is one of the earliest players to tell AI stories.

As early as 2016, Honor built the Magic Live system into the Magic model. This system can identify keywords in information and provide a schedule - adding service.

At that time, the global artificial intelligence market was only on the verge of breaking through the $10 - billion mark, far from the predicted $294 - billion in 2025.

In 2022, when the growth of the overall artificial intelligence market in China slowed down, Honor launched the MagicOS 7.0, a full - scenario operating system developed based on Android for the first time. The MagicRing trust circle of this system enables self - discovery, self - networking, and self - connection among different Honor devices under the same account, as well as many functions such as sharing of keyboards, mice, notifications, and calls, and application continuation.

By 2024, this system had been upgraded to version 9.0.

Screenshot from the Honor MagicOS 9.0 video. Image source: Honor's official website

To this day, AI remains one of the key labels that Honor is actively strengthening. This is a development direction that has remained unchanged even after leadership changes and organizational upheavals.

Last year, one of Honor's well - known events was when Zhao Ming, the then - CEO of Honor, used the "YOYO" intelligent agent to order 2,000 cups of coffee at the press conference of the Magic 7 series.

Li Jian, the new CEO, mainly revealed Honor's major AI plan - the Alpha Strategy - during his first public appearance after taking office. He announced that Honor would invest $10 billion in building an AI device ecosystem over the next five years and introduced a new AI assistant, the "YOYO intelligent agent".

Honor launched the Alpha Strategy. Image source: Honor's official website

Overall, Honor's progress in the layout of AI - powered mobile phones is not lagging behind.

The development of AI - powered mobile phones has gone through three main stages so far. The first is the AI APP stage, the second is the AI functionalization stage, and the third is the AI native stage.

The basis for dividing these three stages is the way AI functions are implemented. In the first stage, AI functions are realized through independent AI APPs. In the second stage, they are achieved by integrating with existing mobile phone applications such as cameras and voice assistants. In the third stage, AI technology is deeply integrated into the native service ecosystem of the mobile phone. Users can obtain AI services simply by interacting with the phone through voice, text, etc.

Honor has actually entered the third stage.

For example, the newly launched Honor Magic V5 is equipped with the MagicOS 9.0.1 system and the full - fledged MagicLM capabilities, enabling one - sentence AI applications such as "one - sentence PPT creation, one - sentence programming, one - sentence searching, one - sentence file transfer, one - sentence taxi - hailing, one - sentence object recognition, one - sentence screen - viewing, and one - sentence memory". It has also carried out comprehensive cooperation with enterprises such as Alibaba, BYD, and Midea in areas such as intelligent agent services, smart vehicle connectivity, and smart home.

If the functions mentioned by Honor at the press conference are not just on paper, it can be considered to be in the first echelon of AI - powered mobile phone development. After all, so far, we haven't found any other brand of mobile phone that can create a PPT with just one sentence, and only leading brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and vivo in the industry have developed AI operating systems.

However, although the Magic V5 has an office - oriented attribute, consumers are not yet fully accustomed to using mobile phones for office work. If they want to use AI to create a PPT or do programming, more users may turn to large AI model platforms such as DeepSeek and Doubao.

Therefore, it will take some time for users and the market to adapt to these high - end functions in the context of mobile phone usage.

The development of the times is increasingly proving Honor's initial judgment. As more and more enterprises recognize the view that "smartphones are one of the best terminals for the implementation of artificial intelligence technology", Honor, which needs to rebound in sales and cannot afford to lose ground in its high - end positioning process, will definitely choose to persevere in the development of AI - powered mobile phones.

Striving for high - end and foldable phones, Honor must move upwards

In addition to AI - powered mobile phones, another unfulfilled dream of Honor is high - end positioning.

As a brand founded to compete with Xiaomi at that time, Honor gained popularity through mid - range products but was also labeled as a mid - range brand ever since.

Although after independence, Honor quickly improved its supply chain, established sales channels, and once ranked first in annual mobile phone shipments in China, it relied on "cost - effectiveness" to boost sales. Honor still hopes to add more imagination with a high - end mobile phone that stands out.

In the past year, Honor has continuously launched several high - end models, such as the Magic 7 RSR Porsche Design Edition, the Honor Magic 7 Pro, and the Honor Magic 6 Ultimate Edition.

Its foldable screen products are actually part of its high - end layout. In particular, most of the products in the Magic V series are priced over 6,000 yuan.

This year, after experiencing a leadership change, Honor launched the "AI - powered thin and light flagship foldable" phone, the Honor Magic V5, with a starting price of 8,999 yuan, after releasing the mid - range Honor 400 series. This price is higher than that of the PuraX previously launched by Huawei.

Honor Magic V5. Image source: Honor's official WeChat account

On the one hand, this move is Honor's attempt to keep up with last year's product launch rhythm, as the previous model in the Magic V series, the Magic V3, was launched in mid - July last year. On the other hand, it is also to showcase the company's progress in foldable flagship products and high - end products to the outside world and further enhance the imagination for its future listing.

However, despite Honor's efforts to launch new products every year, the process of high - end positioning still has a long way to go.

Data released by Canalys shows that in the third quarter of 2024, Honor ranked fifth globally among manufacturers in the price segment of over $600 with its flagship model, the Magic 7 Pro, with a market share of 2%. It was one of the only two Chinese enterprises in the top five, along with Huawei.

In the domestic market, Honor squeezed into the top three in the high - end market share. However, Apple and Huawei, the top two, had market shares of 52% and 33% respectively. Other players still have a long way to catch up.

Image source: Canalys' official WeChat account

According to data released by IDC, in the first quarter of 2025, Huawei had a 76.6% share in the foldable screen mobile phone market, while Honor only had 9.1%.

Coming in second in the foldable screen market is a good result, but foldable screen mobile phones are niche products. Therefore, this is definitely not enough for Honor.

Data released by IDC shows that in the first quarter of 2025, the total shipments of domestic foldable screen mobile phones were 2.84 million, a year - on - year increase of 53.1%. However, the domestic smartphone shipments in that quarter were 71.6 million, and foldable screen mobile phones accounted for only 0.397%.

The era of cost - effective mobile phones is over, and the smartphone market has shifted from a price war to a value war.

According to the "Smartphone Model Sales Tracking Report" released by Counterpoint, in 2024, the sales share of high - end smartphones (priced at $600 or 4,350 yuan or above) in China has climbed to 28% of the overall market, a significant increase compared to 11% in 2018.

Therefore, in order to support its long - term valuation, Honor must continue to move upwards.

While telling stories, Honor needs to stabilize its basic market, and the new team is facing a test

To this day, the immediate problems are what Honor urgently needs to solve.

Whether it is to delve deeper into technology and develop AI - powered mobile phones or to move towards high - end positioning and develop high - end and flagship foldable screen products, all these need to be based on the stable overall situation of the company.

However, Honor experienced a sudden leadership change and management reshuffle at the beginning of 2025. The new CEO must carry out a series of major internal organizational adjustments to stabilize the team and start anew.

Image source: Honor's official website

In 2024, Honor ranked fifth in mobile phone shipments.

According to data released by the research institution Counterpoint Research, in the first quarter of 2025, Honor's smartphone shipments in China were approximately 9 million, with a market share of 13.7%, ranking sixth. Its sales volume decreased by 12.8% year - on - year.

After the adjustments in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, Honor is trying to regain its previous position. Honor's senior executives said in an interview that Honor's goal is to return to the top three in the domestic market by the end of the year.

In the second quarter of 2025, there were reports in the market that the Honor 400 had achieved great sales success. Previously, many media reported that the cumulative global activations of the Honor 400 series had exceeded 1 million, breaking the records for the first - day sales volume and the fastest activation of over 1 million units of Honor mobile phones in the past three years. The activations increased by 195% and 138% compared to the Honor 300 series and the Honor 200 series respectively.

This model may be a good start for Honor's rebound, but whether it can truly turn the tables for Honor remains to be seen.

Today, the landscape of the mobile phone market is constantly changing. Although the market share gap between different brands often differs