At its keynote event ahead of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025,Honorannounced plans to double down on itsAndroidsoftware update policy. The company has confirmed that going forward, its flagship Magic series devices will benefit from seven years of feature updates, in addition to seven years of security patches.
The candybar-styleMagic 7 Proand the book-style foldableMagic V3will be the first beneficiaries of Honor’s new-and-improved update policy, with future high-end Magic devices expected to follow suit. In committing to seven years of major Android feature releases, Honor joins the ranks of Google and Samsung in offering a more robust and long-term update cadence on its flagship handsets.
Magic 7 Pro
Honor’s Magic 7 Pro is the company’s latest flagship smartphone, arriving with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, IP69 water resistance, and more.
Honor’s latest book-style foldable phone is incredibly thin and light – more so than many slab-style devices.
Honor’s latest devices are now official, and AI is at the forefront
Ahead of Mobile World Congress 2025, Honor has unveiled four new devices: the Earbuds Open, the Watch 5 Ultra, the Pad V9, and the MagicBook 14.
Honor’s Magic 7 Pro and Magic V3 just got more appealing
The company’s revitalized commitment to Android feature updates is a step in the right direction
Most Android phone makers support their flagship smartphones with new OS updates for anywhere between two and five years. In matching Google and Samsung in offering seven feature updates, Honor becomesonly the third major phone companyto commit to such a lofty software goal.
The Magic 7 Pro and Magic V3 are both high-end from a hardware perspective, and as such, they offer tons of computational headroom for future OS releases. Honor’s new update policy is certainly a positive development in that it keeps the devices up-to-date and secure going into the future.
Under the hood, it appears that Honor is leveraging the joint Longevity GRF program venture from Google and Qualcomm. This technology provides processor-level support for OS updates without the need for as much retooling or tweaking on the phone maker’s side. In other words, theSnapdragon 8 Elite chipsetis the catalyst for this change, and hopefully, we’ll see other OEMs jump aboard the seven-year-update train sooner rather than later.
Honor’s emboldened commitment to Android software updates comesalongside the release of new hardware, including the Earbuds Open, the Watch 5 Ultra, and the Pad V9.
The revitalized update policy is one of several key moves being made by Honor under the new leadership of CEO James Li, as part of its broader ‘Alpha Plan’ strategy. The company announced a ten-billion dollar investment in artificial intelligence development over the course of five years in hopes of becoming a dominant player in the AI space.
Honor’s Alpha Plan is a bold AI strategy that might just pay off
Under new leadership, Honor is trekking forward with what it calls the Alpha Plan - an aggressive push to solidify a leading position in the AI space.
