Chinese smartphone maker Honor has unveiled a new AI image-to-video generator, giving users of its upcoming Honor 400 and 400 Pro phones early access to a Google-powered tool—before it even rolls out to Google’s own Gemini users.
The Honor AI image-to-video feature is built directly into the native Gallery app and will be available starting May 22, the official launch date for the new devices. The tool uses Google’s Veo 2 model, an advanced generative AI system that turns static images into short, dynamic video clips.
How It Works: AI-Powered Motion in a Few Clicks
The new tool creates five-second videos based on user-uploaded photos. Users can choose either portrait or landscape orientation, and each generation takes around one to two minutes to complete. However, there’s a catch—no text prompts are allowed, so the AI decides how to animate the image on its own.
That simplicity is intentional. The interface is built for effortless content creation, but it also means you’re relying entirely on the model’s interpretation of your image. Sometimes the results are surprisingly realistic—like a cat licking its paw or a person blinking. Other times, they drift into the surreal or absurd.
Some standout quirks from testing include:
- A vintage car spinning in place
- Tomatoes manipulated by a ghostly hand
- A 27-player soccer match involving three teams and two referees
- A pigeon flying out of Van Gogh’s eye in a self-portrait animation
At launch, the Honor AI image-to-video feature will be exclusive to Honor 400 series users, and will be free to use for the first two months. During this trial period, users will be limited to 10 video generations per day. The tool outputs videos in MP4 format, optimized for social sharing.
Honor appears to be betting on AI-driven creativity to differentiate its phones. By partnering with Google’s powerful Veo 2 model and integrating it natively, Honor is providing an AI experience that even Google’s own Pixel users haven’t accessed yet.
Google Veo 2 and the Generative Video Race
Google introduced Veo 2 during its latest developer showcase, positioning it as a direct competitor to models like OpenAI’s Sora. Veo specializes in generating high-quality, coherent video from text or image input—though Honor’s implementation only uses image-based generation for now.
The Honor release highlights a broader trend of smartphone makers racing to integrate generative AI features, especially for content creation. With TikTok, Reels, and short-form video driving online engagement, tools like this could become the next must-have mobile feature.
The Honor 400 series officially launches on May 22, with the AI image-to-video generator ready out of the box. While limited in its first iteration, the feature could evolve to include text prompts or longer clips, as Veo’s capabilities expand.
For now, though, Honor users will enjoy a head start in the AI-powered creativity game—before Google’s Gemini users even get a taste.
