- Honor Robot Phone, a concept shown at a summit in China, is expected to enter mass production in H1 2026.
- It is world's first AI-powered phone that can read human emotions, and protrude a Wall-E like camera with gimbal support that unfolds from its back panel.
- Exactly how Honor plans to make it work and for good, is still under wrap.
Back at the World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, which happened last month, Honor showcased the first-ever AI-powered Honor Robot Phone. It comes with a high-definition camera with 360° gimbal support, auto-tracking, and beyond.
Well, the phone was more of a prototype, and given the fact that smartphone makers usually come up with these eccentric designs that never see the commercial launch, we thought the Robot Phone was one of them. Turns out, it isn’t, and the Chinese smartphone maker is trying to roll it out soon, with the mass production starting in H1 2026.
Much-awaited Honor Robot Phone is entering mass production early next year
According to leaker SmartPikachu, the Honor Robot Phone is indeed entering mass production in the first half of next year, i.e., 2026. Truth be told, the phone does look straight out of animated Disney movies such as Wall-E, and we never thought it would see the light of day. However, the latest update from the tipster is very promising, as mass production makes the launch imminent.
It is unclear whether Honor will be rolling out the world’s first-ever AI-powered Robot Phone in China or if it is in-line to roll out globally.
Unleashing the future of phones with Honor
Based on the photos, the teaser at the summit, and the video teaser by SparrowNews, you can see just how different the phone looks. It brings an arm that sits snuggly fit on the back panel; however, when you want to shoot amazing photos or videos, the rear camera arm rises up like the head of a robot unfolding from its position and takes the center stage.
The phone is likely packing a DJI Osmo Pocket (kind of) imaging sensor with gimbal support and not any fancy OIS that smartphone makers are showing off lately. The upfolding and self-lifting arm can take exceptional videos even if you are walking too harshly. The goal is to make the phone mount on a bike and set off on an adventure without worrying that the output will be shaky because the arm will auto-track and adjust accordingly.
What’s more? The phone is equipped with AI image recognition trained to read and recognize human emotions. The video teaser does show pretty Wall-E kind of behavior; however, we are left with assumptions until the phone actually arrives sometime next year. Honor still has to figure out a lot around the complexities with an unfolding (and folding) and self-lifting mechanism on its gimbal plus camera, which is different from what pop-up cameras and flip camera units that we have seen on phones in the past.
Related
Unofficially, we have heard that the Honor Robot Phone is likely to arrive in August next year. Although nothing is confirmed at least at the time of writing this, we are quite certain that the launch is happening next, given that mass production is starting in the first half of 2026. For now, we know that we will get more information about this innovative concept at the MWC 2026 happening in February next year.
