MANILA - HONOR formally launched the 400 5G, its latest midrange phone, in a celebrity-packed event in Pasay City on Tuesday.

The Chinese phone brand dubs the 400 5g as its most AI-feature packed phone yet, with its most unique feature being its 'Image to video' ability to animate still photos into short video clips. HONOR Philippines officials showed several samples of the phone turning old photos and even paintings into animated short video clips.

The phone also has a beefed up AI photo editing features like AI Eraser, AI Upscale, AI Cutout and AI Outpainting.

 Miss Universe-Philippines 2025 Ahtisa Manalo attends the launch of HONOR's latest midrange phone. Arthur Fuentes, ABS-CBN News

AI Eraser lets users remove 'photobombing' people and other things in the background for a cleaner, decluttered shot. AI Upscale, meanwhile, enhances the clarity and details of a photo, thus 'upscaling' its quality. AI Cutout meanwhile lets users cut out a subject and then place it in a different background--you can shoot someone in a parking garage and then make it look like he/she was in the Swiss Alps. AI Outpainting, meanwhile, is the opposite of cropping a photo. If you think a shot was cropped too tightly, you can extend images beyond the original border.

While all these AI photo editing capabilities are also already available in other apps, it was interesting seeing them all gathered in the Gallery app as photo editing features.  

Former loveteam Julia Barretto and Joshua Garcia attend the launch of HONOR's latest midrange phone as its official celebrity endorsers. Arthur Fuentes, ABS-CBN News  HONOR also touted the spec sheet for a midrange phone: a Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 chipset, 12 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage, a 120 Hz AMOLED screen, IP166 water and dust resistance and a 6000mAh battery.

It also features a 200 megapixel main camera backed up by another 12MP camera for ultrawide shots. Selfie duties meanwhile are handled by a 50MP punch-hole camera.

The 400 is not exactly a compact camera, but its 6.55-inch screen is smaller than the 6.7-inch or 6.8-inch screens found in other phones.

HONOR is preselling the 400 for P22,999 from June 17 to 27 with special freebies such as a Jisulife fan, JBL GO4 Bluetooth speakers and an HONOR Choice Earbuds Clip, which the company said are worth over P9,000.