While Honor has already made plenty of product announcements, with tablets, foldables and more, its most interesting device at MWC 2026 is the Robot phone – and perhaps the humanoid robot that accompanied him.
After briefly presenting a model at CES, Honor is not quite ready to launch its Robot Phone. However, we got more specs, tech demos, and a closer look following the company’s MWC press event in Barcelona. The Robot Phone is expected to launch later this year.
Honor has put a lot of effort into ensuring its camera gimbal is highly mobile, to the point of creating a little personal robot that is, dare I say, adorable? The Robot Phone’s pop-up camera can tilt its head, shake to say no, nod to agree and even “flip” – or at least rotate 360 degrees. According to Honor’s presentation, it can even accompany songs. A spokesperson told me there are five songs in its repertoire, so it’s unclear whether they are timed for these kinds of demos, or whether they will be a feature of the final retail device.
Another demo here at MWC showed how to make the robot phone “sleep” by covering its gimbal eye, although it was odd that the camera was still exposed rather than folded away. My main concern with the Robot Phone is the sturdiness and durability of its robotic mechanisms. We’ve experienced several waves of smartphones that attempted much simpler mechanical camera functions and the threat of dust or heavy users cannot be ignored.
The company says it took what it learned from foldables, regarding high-performance materials and simulation accuracy, and applied it to shrinking the camera module. On stage, Honor CEO James Li revealed what he called the industry’s smallest micromotor, much smaller than a 1-euro coin and, he added, 70 percent smaller than existing micromotors.
As this component has been significantly reduced, the Robot Phone’s gimbal will be the smallest 4 degrees of freedom gimbal system in the industry. It’s a spec – we finally have a spec! It will also offer three-axis stabilization in this small camera body, with the main camera using a 200-megapixel sensor.
The flip-up panel that the main camera stores in also reveals more typical cameras, so you’re not forced to use the gimbal if you don’t need to. Still, it’s a very thick camera unit:
Honor has already started developing camera modes and features, with a Super Steady Video mode that improves stability while rotating the robot phone to capture video. AI Object Tracking will apparently intelligently track subjects, while AI SpinShot supports intelligent 90-degree and 180-degree rotation movements for more cinematic transitions. We’ve seen these kinds of movements and functions pre-programmed in phone gimbals and full-size action cameras. If Honor can pull it off in such a small form, it will be impressive.
Other specs at Honor’s press event were scarce, although the company did announce a collaboration with ARRI Image Science to bring its cinematic intelligence to the Robot Phone’s gimbal camera.
In a press release, Honor’s Li said the collaboration would bring ARRI’s “cinematic standards and professional workflows” to mobile imaging. This is apparently the first time that elements of ARRI Image Science have been integrated into a consumer device. Dr. Benedikt von Lindeiner, vice president of ARRI, said the goal is to bring true cinematic aesthetics, such as “natural colors, slight highlight rolloff, and a sense of depth,” to filming with an Honor smartphone.
Honor has also created a humanoid robot companion for its Robot Phone. The robot took the stage alongside the Robot Phone, danced alongside human dancers, did a backflip, and shook hands with CEO James Li. It didn’t say anything, but fortunately, during some on-rails banter between the robot, Robot Phone, and Honor’s CEO, the Robot Phone was particularly talkative.
Like the many humanoid robots we’ve talked about and seen in person, Honor hopes to implement it in both industrial and home settings, touting it as a central part of the company’s multimillion-dollar effort in AI. For now, it’s called Honor Robot.
This article was originally published on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/a-closer-look-at-honors-robot-phone-145935198.html?src=rss
