Honor goes big on AI with new MagicBook Pro 14, open earbuds, and more
Honor's big plan to get more AI in its products is kicking off, and it's promising to ship four new products to help make it happen
💻 Honor just announced four new products at MWC 2025
🎧 There’s the MagicBook Pro 14, Watch 5 Ultra, the Pad 9, and the Earbuds Open
🤖 All of them are geared toward a cohesive ecosystem and more AI
🗣️ It’s part of Honor’s “Alpha Plan” that revamps the company’s mission
Honor just wrapped up a huge press conference at Mobile World Congress, and it’s promising to lean into more AI than ever before. The company’s new “Alpha Plan” is a rethinking of Honor’s mission as a company to make smarter products for its customers, and it’s ushering in the new era with four new gadgets, including the surprisingly great Earbuds Open.
During the show, Honor mentioned the new MagicBook Pro 14 (more details coming soon), the Watch 5 Ultra, the Pad 9, and the Earbuds Open. All four are equipped with AI and connect with each other to create a seamless ecosystem, similar to how ecosystems like Apple’s and Google’s work.
Honor’s Alpha Plan, which translates to a $10 billion investment over the next five years, is a big bet for the company as it pushes towards an AI-driven future. With partners like Google and Qualcomm at the helm, along with other investors and collaborators, the brand will be making a big splash in the near future as it rebuilds momentum to compete with other international tech giants.
The Shortcut is a gadget-driven publication, so we were most intrigued by the announcements at the end. The teased MagicBook Pro 14 looks like it could be a serious MacBook Pro competitor when it comes out… whenever that is. We’ve seen leaked specs that point to a 14.6-inch 120Hz OLED display, accented by 700 nits of brightness and expert color calibration for more accurate tones. It’ll reportedly be powered by Intel’s latest Core Ultra H-series processors, up to 32GB of RAM, and a big 92Wh battery. What’s more, the laptop will weigh around three pounds and be pretty slim. It looks like this laptop could be great for productivity and content consumption, especially with that OLED screen.
There’s also the new Watch 5 Ultra, which promises up to 15 days of battery life on a full charge. That’s despite it running Wear OS, and it’s all thanks to the same dual-chip technology that OnePlus uses in the OnePlus Watch 3. That’s not the only similarity it shares; the Watch 5 Ultra also looks a lot like the OnePlus Watch 3 with the “flat tire” shape and crown on the right side. There’s a big AMOLED screen on the front with a titanium bezel, 5ATM water resistance, plenty of fitness tracking features, and upgraded sleep tracking with improved accuracy.
Honor also announced the Pad 9, its newest Android tablet that promises a lot of power in a slim package. The 11.5-inch LCD tablet comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 8350 processor, a 10,100mAh battery, Android 15, and all of the Google apps you could ask for. The aluminum design and relatively slim bezels give it a modern look, and from what I’ve heard from my fellow tech reporters, the Pad 9 is a serious iPad competitor, especially for the 250 Euro price.
Finally, there’s the Earbuds Open. I got go hands-on with them ahead of today’s event, and they’re easily some of the best open-style earbuds I’ve ever used. The soft silicone design, coupled with a sleek and slim form factor, make them feel nearly like you aren’t wearing anything at all. Sound quality is excellent with good bass, there’s a noise cancellation feature for isolating your music a bit against the sounds of your environment, and the battery lasts up to six hours. I’ll have more thoughts in a full review, but these are killer buds so far.
All of Honor’s newest products infuse AI somewhere. Whether it’s in an algorithm for avoiding sound leakage, generating images, writing emails, or optimizing battery life, Honor is leaning into artificial intelligence to improve all of its products. It’s a trend we’ve been watching in the rest of the tech industry for a while, and while trust in AI is up for question (many of our readers were left feeling uneasy after Amazon’s Alexa+ reveal), big events like Honor’s will keep coming as the future of AI continues to reveal itself.
Honor will be launching these products in other markets outside of North America. However, we’ll let you know if any of them make it American shores.
Max Buondonno is Editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.
