This Galaxy Z Fold 7 competitor beats even Google with on-device AI translation of all your calls

Just a month after its Chinese premiere, the Honor Magic V5 started rolling out in Europe and we’ve already published our review of it. While making heads turn with its incredibly thin profile, the foldable also has an impressive AI-powered translation feature, which could make your life much easier.Honor’s AI Call Translation tool provides real-time call translation, powered by on-device AI. Unlike most translation tools, which rely on cloud services, this feature works directly on the phone, without sending out any data. That means you get your translations with lower latency and better privacy, without being dependent on internet connectivity.

The company claims this is “the industry’s first on-device large speech model,” which takes up only about 800MB on your device. That’s an impressively small size for such a model, especially considering it supports six languages:

Chinese
English
Spanish
French
German
Italian

As translation happens as you speak, Honor says it’s not necessary to complete a sentence before the AI starts producing the result. That “speak-as-you-go” design is supposed to be faster and more accurate.

According to Honor, the model has a 38% increase in its speed and 16% better accuracy compared to older systems, while using 75% less memory. However, Honor doesn’t clarify what it means by “older systems”.

Experience real-time AI call translation.
HONOR Magic V5 breakthrough slashes memory needs by 75%, boosts speed by 38%, and increases accuracy by 16% – all running locally on your phone for ultimate privacy & responsiveness. Outperforming other on-device solutions! pic.twitter.com/prKQLNY3IN

— HONOR (@Honorglobal) August 21, 2025

The model Honor uses is based on the open-source Whisper model, which was optimized for better speech recognition, speed, and efficiency of the translation. In an interview with CNET, Fei Fang, president of product at Honor, says the company has designed the model in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.While real-time translation is where I believe AI could be most helpful, I doubt this feature will be good enough to use outside of the most basic touristic situations. As someone who lives in a foreign country and speaks the local language well enough to get by in my daily life, I need help with the intricacies of the local dialect of Spanish. So far, I haven’t seen any AI-powered tool that can help with this, and I doubt this one will be different. That’s why, for now, I’ll stick to my Spanish classes.

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Ilia, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, has been covering the mobile industry since 2011, with experience at outlets like Forbes Bulgaria. Passionate about smartphones, tablets, and consumer tech, he blends deep industry knowledge with a personal fascination that began with his first Nokia and Sony Ericsson devices. Originally from Bulgaria and now based in Lima, Peru, Ilia balances his tech obsessions with walking his dog, training at the gym, and slowly mastering Spanish.

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