HONOR will ship 'world's first batch' of PCs with Windows 11 preinstalled

Microsoft and HONOR announced an expansion of an ongoing partnership between the two companies. HONOR and Microsoft will work together on cloud adoption, personal and mobile computing, and other technologies, according to a post by Microsoft. As part of the partnership, the HONOR MagicBook V 14 laptop will ship with Windows 11 preinstalled (see our recent review of the current HONOR MagicBook 14).

The MagicBook V 14 will be unveiled at HONOR Life, HONOR Smart Life Product Launch, on September 26, 2021. The post doesn't specify the date that the MagicBook V 14 will ship compared to any other devices running Windows 11, but says that "the HONOR MagicBook V 14 laptop will be the world's first batch of computers to come pre-installed with Windows 11."

As part of the agreement, HONOR will adopt AI speech and AI translation services based on Microsoft Azure. The AI-powered services will help power HONOR's Smart Assistant YOYO, collaborative office, smart travel, life services, smart translation, and other apps.

Microsoft will help HONOR improve the experience of mobile phones, tablets, smart screens, earphones, and other devices as part of the agreement.

"Microsoft hopes to accelerate the integrated development of software and hardware intelligence by continuously deepening and expanding our strategic cooperation with HONOR, to bring richer experiences to end users, and to bring born-in-Asia innovations to the world by leveraging Microsoft Azure," says Dr. Hou Yang, corporate vice president and chairman and CEO of Microsoft GCR.

Microsoft has worked with HONOR for several years. The company highlights that it was one of the first businesses to partner with HONOR after HONOR became an independent company.