At its local launch event last night at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, Honor South Africa took the wraps off the Honor 400 and 400 Pro smartphones. Following on from the successful Honor 200 and 200 Pro that launched last year, the 400 and 400 Pro bring a few hardware upgrades and more AI smarts to the table.
For not a whole lot more money, either. The Honor 400 lands with a recommended retail price (RRP) of R13,000, while the 400 Pro will require you to spend R18,000. If either of those are out of your reach, Honor has already made the 400 Lite available and that one’s only R8,000 (RRP).
Honor-ing the 400
In a surprising change, it’s fairly easy to tell the difference between the 400 and 400 Pro. The former comes with flattened edges and two rear camera lenses, while the latter features curved edges and an extra rear camera lens. Other differences include their Snapdragon chipsets, screen sizes, and charging speeds.
The Honor 400 is based around the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 SOC, sports a 6.55in 120Hz AMOLED display, and 8oW wired charging for its large 6,000mAh battery.
The Honor 400 Pro cranks things up with the higher-tiered Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SOC, a slightly larger 6.7in 120Hz AMOLED display, and 100W wired/50W wireless charging speeds for its equally large battery.
As far as cameras go, both feature Honor’s new favourite 200MP main sensor. In the 400, that’s supplemented by a 12MP ultrawide lens, while the 400 Pro uses the same 12MP ultrawide and adds a 50MP telephoto lens. Around the front of both the 400 and 400 Pro, you’ll find a 50MP front-facing selfie cam, with the Pro adding a 2MP depth sensor to its pill-shaped cutout.
Other than having the same 6,000mAh batteries, both locally available models will ship with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Both devices also play host to a plethora of AI-powered tools, including two-month access to Google’s Veo 2 image-to-video model and AI deepfake detection, to name a few.
During the presentation, Honor SA’s CEO Fred Zhou reaffirmed the company’s ‘Alpha Plan’ it announced during MWC this year. This strategy will see the firm gradually shift from a smartphone maker into an “AI device ecosystem company.”
Honor sweetens the pot
If those recommended retail prices weren’t enticing enough, Honor is throwing in what it says is R8,000 worth of extra goodies with each purchase. When buying the Honor 400 or 400 Pro — already available from Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, or Cell C — you’ll also get a complimentary Honor Watch 2i, Honor Choice Earbuds X7 Lite, and an Honor Choice 10,000mAh power bank.
