Samsung might soon find a new global rival in Honor

Samsung's appearance at MWC 2023 has so far been a bit of a letdown. The company didn't have much to show at the tech event in Barcelona, mainly because it unveiled the Galaxy S23 series and the Galaxy Book 3 laptops at Unpacked on February 1. Samsung's rivals, however, had more intriguing announcements to make, and it appears that the company may have to face at least one new competitor in the global smartphone market by the end of the year.

Honor – a state-owned smartphone brand under the municipal government of Shenzhen's control – has a new goal to join the global smartphone market and compete with the biggest brands out there. And at MWC 2023, CEO Zhao Ming revealed that Honor is willing to “improve battery life, communication, photography, display, and AI [to] win the competition with the strongest opponents in many aspects such as globalization.”

Honor is gunning for big mobile brands, and Samsung is among them

Honor's opponents competing for globalization include Huawei and Apple, as mentioned by Zhao Ming. (via IT Home). The CEO didn't spell out Samsung, but if the company wants to join the global market, Samsung will be much more difficult to ignore than Huawei.

The Shenzen-based company is most likely aware of the Korean tech giant's dominance in the global Android space, especially since it just announced the global release of the Honor Magic Vs at MWC 2023. The Magic Vs is the first non-Samsung book-like foldable phone for the global market, and it seems to be gunning for the Galaxy Z Fold 4.

Honor also announced that it wants to release the Magic 5 standard smartphone series globally, consisting of the Honor Magic 5 and Magic 5 Pro. They will be released in the second quarter of 2023 for €899 and €1199, respectively.

All in all, Samsung will have one more rival to worry about in the global market, but at the end of the day, that may be a good thing for fans of the brand, as it may keep the company on its toes.

Mihai Matei - Senior Editor

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First Samsung device: SGH-A800

Mihai is a blogger and column writer at SamMobile. His first Samsung phone was an A800 which took a lot of beating, and a part of him still misses the novelty of the clamshell design. In his free time, he enjoys watching shows, documentaries, and stand-up comedy; listening to music, taking walks, and occasionally playing old(er) video games.

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