Just when we thought Porsche may be getting out of the smartphone game, it looks like it’s jumping straight back in, this time in partnership with Honor.
The Porsche Design arm of the iconic auto manufacturer first got into the smartphone biz back in 2011 when it collaborated with BlackBerry on the P’9981 - an eye wateringly expensive revamped BlackBerry Bold. The partnership spawned two more handsets (the P’9982 and P’9983) until the firms went their separate ways.
However, two years later the Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design was announced in 2016, and the Chinese firm went on to produce a Porsche Design handset each year (bar 2021, due to COVID) up to the Mate 50 RS in 2022 (pictured above).
So now it's time for Porsche Design to partner with a new smartphone maker and it hasn't had to look far as according to tipster Digital Chat Station it's teamed up with former Huawei sub-brand Honor.
The tipster claims the Honor Magic 6 series will feature a trio of handsets with a bold design, and a Porsche Design variant too. The handsets are also tipped to feature curved edges to the screens and large camera modules on the rear.
Dynamic Island on the horizon
It may not be just a Porsche Design variant that the Honor Magic 6 series has to crow about, as an earlier leak suggests it'll also be borrowing Apple's Dynamic Island iPhone feature.
Called 'Magic Capsule', it works slightly differently to Apple's implementation as its island notification bar will only appear when the phone senses your eyes are looking directly at it. You can see more in the video below.
Meanwhile Honor has already confirmed the Magic 6 series will benefit from 66W fast charging and Qualcomm's latest top-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.
The Honor Magic 6 series is said to be launching in February 2024, and we'll be waiting to see if a Porsche Design variant does indeed appear alongside the main phones.
Porsche Design's smartphone history
- 2011: BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9981
- 2013: BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9982
- 2014: BlackBerry Porsche Design P’9983
- 2016: Huawei Mate 9 Porsche Design
- 2017: Huawei Mate 10 Porsche Design
- 2018: Huawei Mate RS & Mate 20 RS
- 2019: Huawei Mate 30 RS
- 2020: Huawei Mate 40 RS
- 2022: Huawei Mate 50 RS
