Honor, Ant Group Launch Digital Services Cooperation

Chinese smartphone maker Honor and Chinese fintech giant Ant Group have jointly announced a strategic cooperation agreement on March 16. The two sides will work together in five major areas: digital operation, payment innovation, security technology, digital finance and environmental, social, and governance strategies (also known as ESG).

As a well-known smart device provider, Honor has built an ecology including smartphones, PCs, tablets, wearables, smart screens, IoT products and other devices based on the MagicOS operating system. Ant Group, meanwhile, has developed its own path within five major sectors: digital payment, digital interconnection, digital finance, digital technology and globalization.

Eric Jing, chairman and CEO of Ant Group, said, “The two sides motivated each other and reached consensus in past agreements. In the future, I hope that through further open cooperation and collaborative creation, we can provide better services to consumers, strive for win-win results, and bring greater value to the industry and society.”

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How to better provide users with high-value digital services is the focus of attention for both companies. Ant Group’s Alipay Life Service and Honor’s MagicOS jointly create dozens of intelligent scenario services including subway transportation, government affairs, medical treatment, etc. The services are sent to users via Honor’s YOYO Smart Assistant, which aims to be both efficient and convenient. The two sides also introduced a new function as the front camera can be used to scan QR codes by simply turning over the smartphone.

Since 2021, Honor has introduced mini programs and video channels on Alipay, and brought convenience to consumers with the help of consumer finance capabilities such as Huabei installment. Recently, Honor’s new flagship smartphone, the Honor Magic5 series, went on sale, and users can now purchase the phone with Huabei’s interest-free instalments.

In the field of innovation and technology, Honor and Ant Group have built a new joint innovation laboratory on the basis of the existing security technology laboratory. They will continue to strengthen privacy and security cooperation and jointly explore future payment forms. For example, they will research ubiquitous secure payments based on hardware security that will be carried out to accelerate the implementation of new services such as wearable device payment, out-of-network payment and super code scanning.

They will also cooperate on ESG areas. For example, Honor’s smartphone recycling service will be linked to the Ant Forest public welfare compaign in the future. They will also work together to expand green, low-carbon, disabled-friendly and age-friendly technologies and services. This series of cooperation will be implemented within Honor smartphones and Alipay app, contributing to the sustainable development of society.