Honor’s next smartphone has an infrared temperature sensor for obvious reasons

With the world in the grips of a crippling pandemic, perhaps its not surprising that even smartphones are getting features to combat the pandemic in some form or another. There have been many apps that have been developed over the past few months to provide information, help diagnose symptoms and help with contact tracing, but one of the new features announced by Honor on their Play 4 Pro is perhaps the most direct one yet, as the device will be coming with a built-in infrared temperature sensor according to a report by XDA-Developers.

A feature that may seem a little obscure or niche on a phone could become a key selling factor as the smartphone will allow a user to measure the temperature of a person by placing it near their forehead and determine if the person is a health risk or not. That all depends on how accurate the sensor is though. The company is confident in their tech though, saying that the sensor “works between temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius and 100 degrees Celsius” which is more than enough to cover the human body’s range of potential heat fluctuations and that it can sense changes down to the tenth of a degree.

It will probably sell millions of units just for this feature alone, but Honor is also packing quite a lot of tech into their device with the cheapest model in the range, the Honor Play 4. That phone sports a MediaTek Dimensity 800 processor, featuring 6GB of RAM, and has four rear cameras, including primary, wide-angle, depth sensing, and macro cameras. The more expensive Honor Play 4 Pro – the model that comes with the sensor – has a Kirin 990 processor, 8GB of RAM, and just two rear cameras, although this includes a zoom camera. Both phones support 5G and have 1080p displays. The Honor Play 4 is expected to retail in China for around $255 (R4500) while the Honor Play 4 Pro with the temperature sensor will retail for around $421 (R7200)

It’s unclear when those devices will be released, though they are expected to launch in China soon, with a global rollout likely only a few months later – or perhaps not at all if the Chinese buy them like hotcakes and overwhelm their manufacturing capabilities.

Last Updated: June 4, 2020