Honor Announces MagicOS 9.0, AI-filled Android 15 Update

MagicOS 9.0 updates also bring improvements to Magic Portal and Magic Capsule (photo: x @bhavis)

JAKARTA - Honor has introduced MagicOS 9.0, which is based on Android 15, with a big focus on artificial intelligence (AI). This update brings a significant improvement to the company's voice assistant, which now acts as the LAM (Large Action Model).

In line with the trends followed by other companies such as Google, Honor transformed by changing the way "Yoyo," the voice assistant used in China. In the announcement of MagicOS 9.0, Honor explained that Yoyo had been fully upgraded. Now, this assistant can execute orders, such as ordering coffee or doing other tasks.

Yoyo is able to accurately understand user needs, break down task measures, and independently operate and retrieve various third-party resources and services on mobile phones. All of this is done by considering user usage habits and scenarios.

The move is similar to the way companies like Motorola adopt AI, but it seems Honor is more advanced in real launches. This new AI model is known by the name LAM, created by Rabbit during the launch of its R1 device. Instead of just saying words, this AI model can execute commands directly.

At the Snapdragon Summit event, where Honor also introduced Magic 7 Pro, the company revealed more about the new Autopilot' feature. The Magic7 HONOR series will introduce the first AI agent in the industry to operate on-device for an open ecosystem.

From just text or voice commands, this AI agent can order food on behalf of the user. With permission, this agent can learn from user habits to make smart decisions, such as understanding that users prefer coffee with coconut milk and ordering according to these preferences.

While this feature sounds promising, it remains to be seen how everything will work with third-party Android apps, especially outside China.

In addition, MagicOS 9.0 updates also bring improvements to Magic Portal and Magic Capsule for Honor devices. These features allow users to easily highlight and access text, and understand images. Magic Portal is now experiencing a 25% improvement in service integration compared to MagicOS 8.0.

MagicOS 9.0 also emphasizes deepfake prevention with a new detection feature, which is useful for detecting fraud as AI-backed bad actors increase.

MagicOS 9.0 launched today in China and will expand globally in the coming months.