What’s Next — HONOR SA CEO Fred Zhou discusses HONOR’s new corporate strategy, Project Alpha Plan

In this What’s Next with Aki Anastasiou interview, Fred Zhou discusses HONOR’s new corporate strategy, Project Alpha Plan.

HONOR was founded in 2013 and has quickly become a global leader in the consumer technology industry.

It has a strong reputation in South Africa as a leading smartphone maker across all segments.

HONOR continues to grow exponentially, too. In 2024, HONOR achieved 188% year-on-year growth in South Africa.

Furthermore, Counterpoint Research reports that HONOR went from having almost no smartphone market share in South Africa in 2022, to becoming the second best-selling brand in the country in 2024.

The interview

In this What’s Next interview, Zhou unpacks the incredible growth HONOR has experienced in South Africa.

He then reveals HONOR’s Project Alpha Plan, which is the company’s new corporate strategy that will transform HONOR from a smartphone manufacturer to a leading AI device ecosystem company.

Zhou unpacks the three steps that this plan entails and discusses how they encourage collaboration between global technology giants for the good of technology users.

He explains that HONOR believes we are at the intersection between the digital and the AI ages, and that this necessitates a new mindset.

Zhou then talks about HONOR’s new Magic7 Pro smartphone, which features a cutting-edge AI photography engine.

He unpacks the HONOR Magic7 Pro’s deepfake identification technology, which helps users protect themselves against malicious parties who leverage deepfake technology.

Zhou concludes the interview by discussing HONOR’s sponsorship of Bafana Bafana.

Watch the full interview with Fred Zhou, below.