Imagine a phone that hunts for discounts every time you shop, not through an app, but through the device itself. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the idea behind Honor\u2019s new Magic8 series, unveiled<\/a> Wednesday (Oct. 15), which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically search for lower prices and apply coupons across China\u2019s biggest eCommerce platforms. It\u2019s part of the smartphone maker\u2019s latest bid to turn AI from a background feature into a real-world benefit, and it comes as Apple faces growing pressure to prove its own devices can do more than talk about intelligence.<\/p>\n According to CNBC<\/a>, the Magic8\u2019s built-in \u201cYoyo\u201d assistant allows users to say or type prompts like \u201cfind best deal\u201d or \u201cavailable coupon.\u201d The AI then scans platforms such as JD.com and Taobao, compares prices in real time, and surfaces the top savings. Honor says early users have saved up to 20% on select purchases. The system runs entirely on the device using what Honor calls a \u201cModel Context Protocol<\/a>,\u201d developed with AI firm Anthropic, to keep user data private.<\/p>\n \u201cHonor expects people will turn more to AI assistants rather than smartphone apps directly,\u201d Fei Fang<\/a>, president of products at Honor Device, told CNBC<\/a> in an exclusive interview. <\/p>\n The company launched the phone weeks before Singles Day, China\u2019s largest shopping event, to showcase how AI can make online shopping faster and more personalized. It also partnered with Alibaba to integrate the new tools into Taobao and Tmall, embedding its AI deeper into China\u2019s retail infrastructure.<\/p>\n Honor holds about 13% of China\u2019s smartphone market compared with Apple\u2019s 15%, according to Counterpoint Research, cited by CNBC<\/a>. Since its 2020 spinoff from Huawei, Honor has been positioning itself as a tech-forward challenger by targeting younger, value-focused consumers who expect smartphones to deliver tangible utility, not just hardware upgrades.<\/p>\n Advertisement: Scroll to Continue<\/p>\n The contrast with Apple is becoming sharper. As PYMNTS<\/a> reported, Apple is exploring an acquisition of Prompt AI to accelerate its technical capabilities. Even as the iPhone 17<\/a> achieved strong opening-day sales, Apple still trails Google<\/a>, whose Pixel line already embeds generative AI in search, translation and image tools. Apple is also developing a tabletop robot and lifelike Siri assistant<\/a> to narrow that gap.<\/p>\n With the Magic8, Honor joins a growing list of device makers using AI to differentiate in a crowded market. The company\u2019s focus on embedded intelligence suggests the definition of a \u201csmartphone\u201d is changing. It\u2019s latest launch highlights how AI is shifting the smartphone market toward practical utility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imagine a phone that hunts for discounts every time you shop, not through an app, but through the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[220,43744,318,61,60,53743,43,179,53744,80,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-83125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-ai-assistant","10":"tag-honor","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-magic8","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-pymnts-news","16":"tag-shopping-assistant","17":"tag-technology","18":"tag-whats-hot"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}