Honor (company) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Honor Device Co., Ltd.

Headquarters in Shenzhen
Native name	荣耀终端股份有限公司
Type	State-owned enterprise
Industry	Consumer electronics, mobile internet
Founded	2013; 12 years ago (2013)
Headquarters	Shenzhen, China
Area served	Worldwide (except US)
Key people	Li Jian
Products	Smartphones, laptops, wearables, accessories
Parent	Huawei (2013–2020) Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., Ltd. (2020 (2020)–present)

Honor Device Co., Ltd., or simply Honor (which means "Glory" in Chinese), is a company from China. It makes cool electronic gadgets for people to use every day. Honor creates smartphones, tablet computers, smartwatches, and other mobile devices. It also makes the software that runs on these devices. Honor used to be part of a bigger company called Huawei. But in November 2020, Honor became its own company, mostly owned by Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd.

Honor's Journey: A Look at Its History

Honor's logo from 2013 to 2018

An Honor store in Hangzhou

Honor started in 2013 as a brand under Huawei, a big technology company. Honor's goal was to create smartphones that were good quality but also affordable. This helped Huawei compete with other phone brands, both in China and around the world. At first, Honor mostly sold its products online. However, you could also find some Honor items in stores in certain places.

In May 2019, the US government introduced some restrictions on Huawei and its brands. This meant that Honor smartphones could not use popular apps like the Google Play Store, Google Maps, or Gmail.

To make sure Honor could keep making its products and using these important apps, Huawei decided to sell the brand. In November 2020, Honor was sold to a new group of Chinese companies called Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., Ltd. This group included companies connected to the local government. This change allowed Honor to become an independent company.

Honor's Global Growth

Honor began selling its products outside of China in 2014. They launched the Honor 3C phone in Malaysia and the Honor 6 in Europe. By June 2015, Honor products were available in 74 countries.

In 2015, Honor opened its online store, Vmall, in Europe and the United Kingdom. This allowed customers to buy products directly from Honor.

Honor first came to the United States in January 2016 with the Huawei Honor 5X phone. It was shown at a big technology event called the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Later that year, Honor also started selling fitness trackers. By August 2016, Honor had sold over 60 million products.

At CES in January 2017, Honor announced that its Honor 6X phone would be available in many new countries. This phone received awards from several technology websites.

Honor expanded its product range in the following years. In 2018, they started selling laptops and smartwatches. In 2019, they added earbuds and TVs to their lineup.

After becoming an independent company in 2020, Honor continued to grow. In January 2021, they released their first phone not made by Huawei, the V40. By December 2021, with the Honor 50, they offered a smartphone that could use Google Play Services again. Honor is now focusing on making advanced foldable smartphones that are also affordable.

Honor's Cool Products

Honor makes many different kinds of electronic devices. These include smartphones and tablet computers that use the Android operating system. They also make laptops that run on Windows, smartwatches, earbuds, TVs, and smart home devices.

Smartphones: Your Pocket Computers

The Honor 8 phone from 2016

Honor has several popular smartphone lines. The main series uses numbers that go up by 10 with each new generation. For example, as of June 2025, the latest phone in this series is the 400. Sometimes, you can also find "Lite" or "Pro" versions of these phones.

Another important smartphone line is known as the V series in China and the "View" series in other countries. These phones often test new features before they appear in Honor's main phones.

The X series is a great choice if you're looking for a phone that's easy on your wallet. These phones usually have big screens and batteries that last a long time. Some newer X series phones even have cool pop-up cameras.

The Honor Magic V5 foldable phone from 2025

Honor also has its special Magic line, which includes premium devices like the Honor Magic 3. This series also features amazing foldable phones, like the Magic V. In 2023, Honor brought its first foldable smartphone, the Honor Magic VS, to Europe. Honor plans to make more of these exciting Magic phones in the future.

Besides these main series, Honor also offers other phone lines like the S, A, I, and C series. These usually come at lower prices and also follow a numbering system for their generations.

Notebooks: Laptops for School and Fun

In April 2018, Honor released its first laptop, called the MagicBook. This laptop series has continued to be Honor's main offering for computers.

TVs: Big Screens for Entertainment

Honor launched its first two televisions in 2019. They were called the Vision and Vision Pro.

Wearables: Smart Devices You Can Wear

Since 2016, Honor has been making fitness trackers to help you stay active. In 2018, they also started selling smartwatches. These are known as Honor Watch (for smartwatches) and Honor Band (for fitness trackers).

Audio: Listen to Your Favorite Tunes

Since 2019, Honor has been making wireless earbuds. These let you listen to music or talk on the phone without tangled wires.

MagicOS: The Brains Behind Honor Devices

MagicOS

Company / developer	Honor, previously Huawei before the split
OS family	Android, Linux, Unix-like
Working state	Current
Source model	Free software with proprietary components
Initial release	December 2016; 9 years ago (2016-12)
Latest stable release	MagicOS 9.0 / January 2025; 11 months ago (2025-01)
Package manager	HONOR App Market and APK files
Supported platforms	32 and 64-bit ARM
Kernel type	Multi-kernel (with Linux kernel base on Android and microkernel for animations)
License	Proprietary

MagicOS is the special mobile operating system that Honor uses on its smartphones and tablets. It is based on Android, which is a very popular operating system. MagicOS helps your Honor device run smoothly and lets you use all its features. It was also known as Magic UI and Magic Live UI in the past.

How MagicOS Developed

MagicOS was first created by Huawei. After Honor became its own company in November 2020, MagicOS continued to be developed by Honor. Before the split, Honor's more advanced devices used Magic UI, while other devices used a similar system called EMUI.

The operating system has changed its name a few times. It was first called Magic Live when it came out with the first Honor Magic phone. Later, it became Magic UI with the Honor Magic 2. In 2022, it was renamed to MagicOS, which is what it's called today.

MagicOS Versions Over Time

Here's a look at the different versions of MagicOS and the Android versions they are based on:

Images for kids

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  Standard Honor logo since 2018

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  Chromatic Honor logo since 2018