Honor Robot Phone is the smartphone camera upgrade we didn't see coming
Do you want a gimbal on your phone that can come to life?
🤖 Honor made a big splash at MWC with a new robot-smartphone hybrid
📱 The phone comes with a 200MP camera attached to an AI-powered gimbal
👀 It can follow subjects and objects while recording video, respond to voice commands, and even has expressive body language like head nods
🦾 The Robot Phone is designed to feel more natural and less static than a normal phone
🤷 It’s unclear if it’s ever going to go on sale, but it’s a cool demo nonetheless
After teasing it at CES in January, Honor has officially unveiled its Robot Phone at MWC - and it’s one of the most interesting smartphones we’ve ever seen. The phone looks and acts like a normal phone, save for the 200MP camera on a gimbal attached to the top. It rises from the camera system on the back of the phone and essentially brings your phone to life, all thanks to AI.
The gimbal uses a three-axis stabilization system that enables all kinds of different movements. It can rotate the camera around to follow a subject or object while recording video, it’s better at video stabilization than non-moving cameras, and it can give you cinematic-level panning shots up to 180 degrees.
The Robot Phone also ties in Honor’s Alpha Plan, the company’s $10 billion investment in AI. Since it can move in all sorts of different ways, the gimbal can bring your phone to life by reacting to what you say to it using Honor’s AI agents. For example, it can nod its head to confirm it understood your request, shake to say no, or it can even dance to the beat of music.
Honor is leaning heavily into its manufacturing chops with the Robot Phone, particularly the durability of its movable parts, which it’s learned from developing so many foldable phones over the years. The company says that the phone is also pretty durable, although you’re still dealing with moving parts which could pose an issue with extended usage.
The Robot Phone is also a chunker. The gimbal doesn’t sit flush on the top of the phone, so you’ll get some extra thickness and weight as a result. It otherwise looks like a regular smartphone, just with a camera that can come alive when you take a picture or ask it a question.
It’s a very interesting take on what could be a future commonplace smartphone form factor. Honor says it represents an idea that phones can be more expressive and aware, thanks to AI. The Robot Phone might not represent what every phone will look like in a few years, but it could inspire more phone manufacturers to bring their devices to life with similar hardware.
It’s unclear when the Robot Phone could go on sale since it’s just a concept, but Honor says we can expect to learn more about the device next year.
Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut and co-host of The Shortcut Live. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.