Huawei didn’t just do a great job with designing and manufacturing its latest flagship device—Huawei Honor 8—but is also making some notable efforts to market it. Namely, the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer recently performed a huge PR stunt when it succeeded to break the world record in highest smartphone livestreaming.
More specifically, on Monday, the Swedish branch of the company attached the Huawei Honor 8 to a weather balloon and launched it from the SSC Esrange Space Center located in northern Sweden. Initial estimates predicted that the balloon will burst at an altitude of approximately 30,000 meters, i.e. close to 100,000 feet. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and the weather balloon burst after reaching an altitude of 18,425 meters. Peter Lundkvist of Huawei Technologies Sweden stated that this is still more than enough to set a world record in highest smartphone livestreaming, adding that he hopes the Guinness World Records will soon officially validate this achievement and include it in its upcoming book of world records. Huawei’s product specialist has also reassured the public that no phones were harmed in the process of breaking this world record as the Huawei Honor 8 in question has safely made its way back to the land with a parachute after the weather balloon was destroyed.
The fact that Huawei’s latest flagship is capable of operating 13 miles above the ground is not the only impressive thing about it. Namely, the Honor 8 boasts a 5.2-inch LTPS screen (1080 by 1920 pixels), 4GB of RAM, and the hi-tech HiSilicon Kirin 950 system-on-chip featuring an octa-core CPU (four 2.3 GHz Cortex-A72 cores and four 1.8 GHz Cortex A53 cores) and the powerful Mali-T880 MP4 GPU. With 64GB of internal storage, a dual 12 MP rear camera capable of recording 1080p video at 120 frames per second, and dual SIM support, this device has more than piqued the interest of smartphone aficionados worldwide. Its $449 price tag isn’t exactly cheap but initial reports suggest that won’t hinder its commercial success a lot. Honor 8 already had an official US release in August but the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has only decided to launch it as an unlocked device that won’t be offered through any carriers.