OPINION: Honor must have an absolutely massive R&D budget judging by recent tech releases like the Magic V3, the thinnest and lightest foldable around – so what’s up with the Honor Watch 5?
Honor’s latest smartwatch looks so similar to the Apple Watch 9 that it might as well be called the Honor Apple Watch, and it stands out like a sore thumb in Honor’s product range at large – a collection of tech that largely looks premium, even those focused on the cheaper end of the smartphone market.
Aside from the astonishingly thin Magic V3, Honor has delivered some pretty good-looking tech this year. The flagship Honor Magic 6 Pro, complete with its textured back, stylish camera bump and quad-curved screen looks absolutely stunning, and although it’s not quite flagship-level, I really like the look of the Honor 200 Pro. Again, it has a unique look with its Casa Mila-inspired camera housing and the two-tone effect of the rear cover that shimmered in the light.
It’s not just Honor’s smartphone tech that looks good; also announced at IFA 2024 was the MagicBook Art 14, an ultralight laptop that measures 10mm thick and weighs just over 1kg despite offering a pixel-packed 3K 14.6-inch OLED touchscreen and powerful internals.
There’s also the cool modular webcam that’s removed and placed within the chassis of the laptop when not in active use. These are all examples of Honor tech done right. They look great, they perform well and they tend to stand out from the crowd.
Standing out from the crowd
Then, we come to the Honor Watch 5, launched this week alongside the aforementioned Magic V3 and MagicBook Art 14. To say that the Honor Watch 5 looks like an Apple Watch is an understatement; it is an Apple Watch for all intents and purposes.
It has the same squared-off design, complete with a rotating button on the right-hand side – in the same place as Apple’s digital crown – and even small elements like the way the relatively thin strap tapers out to meet the edges of the watch. And, at 1.85 inches, it’s just 0.5 inches smaller than the Apple Watch Series 9.
It’s so similar that looks like it has been purposely designed to trick those around you into thinking you’re wearing a premium bit of Apple kit, and that’s a bit odd to me.
Yes, Apple has somewhat of a chokehold on the smartwatch market – for iPhone users, anyway – but there are plenty of other manufacturers that have carved out their own unique takes on wearable design.
The OnePlus Watch 2R looks like a premium leather-strapped wristwatch, the Galaxy Watch 7 has that handy haptic bezel. Withings has a classic watch design with minimal digital smarts and then there are companies like Whoop that have foregone a screen altogether.
What I’m trying to say is that there’s so much that Honor could’ve done with its wearable to help it stand out from the crowd, especially with an R&D department that’s churning out such impressive hardware in the phone, tablet and laptop spaces.
Don’t get me wrong, the hardware looks promising, even beating the Apple Watch by offering two weeks of battery life, a peak brightness of 1000 nits and one-click health scan tech. It’s just the look that I’m confused about.
Of course, there are plenty of people who love the look of the Apple Watch but, due to being on Android, can’t actually use it. This watch could be for those people, and that’s absolutely fine. I just wish Honor had its own unique, signature design for its smartwatches, and possibly offer this Apple Watch dupe as a cheaper alternative.
Maybe that’s coming with next year’s Honor Watch 6? Who knows, but I’ve certainly got my fingers crossed.
