Honor says its ‘Robot phone’ with moving camera can dance to music

TechCrunch · Mar 1, 2026 · Collected from RSS

Summary

Honor first teased its “Robot phone” with a movable camera arm earlier this year. Ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the Chinese company provided more details about the device, including how the robot can respond to different situations without commands. The company said that it is planning to launch this device in […]

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Image Credits:Honor 7:30 AM PST · March 1, 2026 Honor first teased its “Robot phone” with a movable camera arm earlier this year. Ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the Chinese company provided more details about the device, including how the robot can respond to different situations without commands. The company said that it is planning to launch this device in the second half of this year. Honor said that the robot also has a “personality” and can respond to you with “head shakes” and can also dance to the beat of music. The company noted that users can talk to the assistant on the phone through text and voice. Honor showed a video of a person asking for apparel suggestions, and the robot nodding or shaking to suggest an outfit. The phone has a 200-megapixel camera on a moving robot three-axis gimbal with stabilization tech. The company said that the camera can smoothly rotate around and capture smooth videos and photos. It also has a Super Steady mode for video capture. The company said the phone can get cinematic shots through its Spinshot feature that makes the robot camera rotate by 90 or 180 degrees. Image Credits: Honor The robotic camera also allows for more fluid video calls that can track you through AI-powered object tracking. The tech is like Apple’s Center Stage on steroids if it works. The company said that it developed its own micro motor to control the robotic camera’s movements. It noted that it used some techniques used in foldable phones to make the camera more sturdy and fit the four-degree-of-freedom gimbal system into the body of a phone. Honor said that it is using the same materials for the robotic arm as the Honor Magic V6’s hinge, with 2800 MPa tensile strength. Image Credits: Honor Honor also released the Honor Magic V6 foldable with a 6,600 mAh battery, the Honor MagicPad 4 tablet, and the Honor MagicBook 14 laptop at its event. Techcrunch event San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026 Topics Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web. You can contact or verify outreach from Ivan by emailing im@ivanmehta.com or via encrypted message at ivan.42 on Signal. View Bio

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Engadgetabout 4 hours ago

A closer look at Honor’s Robot Phone

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 maybe the humanoid robot that came alongside it. After briefly showing off a model at CES, Honor isn't 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 currently set to launch later this year. Image by Mat Smith for Engadget Honor has put a lot of effort into ensuring its camera gimbal is highly mobile, to the point of creating a tiny personal robot that is, dare I say, adorable? The Robot Phone's pop-up camera can cock 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 bop along to songs. A spokesperson told me that it's got five songs in its repertoire, so it's not clear whether they're programmed for these kind of demos, or will be a feature of the final retail device. Another demo here at MWC showed how you could make the Robot Phone "sleep" by covering its gimbal eye, though it's odd that the camera is still exposed rather than folded away. My main concern with the Robot Phone is the robustness and durability of its robotic mechanisms. We've lived through several waves of smartphones that attempted much simpler mechanical camera functions and the threat of dust or heavy-handed users can't be ignored. Image by Mat Smith for Engadget The company says it's taken 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 calls the industry's smallest micro motor, much smaller than a 1-euro coin and, he added, 70 percent smaller than existing micro motors. As this component has been reduced substantially, the Robot Phone's gimbal will be the industry's smallest 4-degrees-

The Vergeabout 5 hours ago

Honor claims its Robot Phone will launch later this year

I saw the camera arm unfold from this demo phone, though it didn’t do much else. Honor has revealed more details of its so-called Robot Phone at MWC 2026, and finally showed a working unit in action alongside a dancing humanoid robot. Specs are still thin on the ground, but the company has confirmed it plans to release the phone in the second half of this year - though I've been told that will only be in China. The Robot Phone doesn't quite live up to the name - really it's a smartphone with a gimbal-stabilized camera arm crammed into the back. Honor has now revealed that the main camera will have a 200-megapixel sensor, and is built into what it says is the smallest 4DoF gimbal system in the industry, though those are … Read the full story at The Verge.

South China Morning Postabout 6 hours ago

China’s Honor debuts robot phone and humanoid companion in push into AI hardware

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Honor says its ‘Robot phone’ with moving camera can dance to music

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Engadgetabout 4 hours ago
A closer look at Honor’s Robot Phone
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 maybe the humanoid robot that came alongside it. After briefly showing off a model at CES, Honor isn't 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 currently set to launch later this year. Image by Mat Smith for Engadget Honor has put a lot of effort into ensuring its camera gimbal is highly mobile, to the point of creating a tiny personal robot that is, dare I say, adorable? The Robot Phone's pop-up camera can cock 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 bop along to songs. A spokesperson told me that it's got five songs in its repertoire, so it's not clear whether they're programmed for these kind of demos, or will be a feature of the final retail device. Another demo here at MWC showed how you could make the Robot Phone "sleep" by covering its gimbal eye, though it's odd that the camera is still exposed rather than folded away. My main concern with the Robot Phone is the robustness and durability of its robotic mechanisms. We've lived through several waves of smartphones that attempted much simpler mechanical camera functions and the threat of dust or heavy-handed users can't be ignored. Image by Mat Smith for Engadget The company says it's taken 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 calls the industry's smallest micro motor, much smaller than a 1-euro coin and, he added, 70 percent smaller than existing micro motors. As this component has been reduced substantially, the Robot Phone's gimbal will be the industry's smallest 4-degrees-

The Vergeabout 5 hours ago
Honor claims its Robot Phone will launch later this year
I saw the camera arm unfold from this demo phone, though it didn’t do much else. Honor has revealed more details of its so-called Robot Phone at MWC 2026, and finally showed a working unit in action alongside a dancing humanoid robot. Specs are still thin on the ground, but the company has confirmed it plans to release the phone in the second half of this year - though I've been told that will only be in China. The Robot Phone doesn't quite live up to the name - really it's a smartphone with a gimbal-stabilized camera arm crammed into the back. Honor has now revealed that the main camera will have a 200-megapixel sensor, and is built into what it says is the smallest 4DoF gimbal system in the industry, though those are … Read the full story at The Verge.

South China Morning Postabout 6 hours ago
China’s Honor debuts robot phone and humanoid companion in push into AI hardware
Chinese smartphone maker Honor has unveiled a “robot phone” and its first humanoid assistant ahead of MWC Barcelona, alongside its latest foldable handset, in an aggressive bet on artificial intelligence-powered hardware to stand out in the fierce Android competition. Honor’s AI Robot Phone, which featured a motorised, three-axis gimbal arm, could track motion and interact with users through camera movement, the company said in a preview of the handset on Sunday in Barcelona. The camera arm and...

TechCrunch1 day ago
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China’s push into humanoid robots is accelerating, with domestic firms shipping more units and iterating faster than U.S. competitors in a still-nascent market.

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