China Mobile, Honor launch token package to lower AI barriers

China Mobile and Chinese tech company Honor have jointly introduced a first-of-its-kind token package—the MobileAI Expert Plan—starting at 169 yuan ($25) per month for Chinese consumers. The package includes 50 million mobile tokens and communication services, with payment supported via phone bills.

Under the partnership, Honor provides AI smartphones — such as Magic 9 — while China Mobile supplies AI application benefits and connectivity, making AI more accessible to ordinary users. Both companies said they will continue working together to deliver more convenient and diverse AI experiences.

Li Jian, CEO of Honor, said in an interview that the company's Magic 9 series smartphones saw sales across all e-commerce platforms up 194 percent year-on-year compared with the previous flagship series within half an hour of going on sale.

Addressing pricing, Li said that all industry players face enormous pressure from soaring memory and component costs. He said Honor is trying its utmost not to pass the full burden onto consumers. "How you treat users is how users will treat you," he said, adding that he has asked his team to dig internally to cut costs and improve efficiency. "We should keep the difficulties for ourselves," he said. "If we made no adjustments at all, we couldn't survive."