by LU Keyan

Honor, the Chinese smartphone maker spun off from Huawei, has revealed a concept video of its first ROBOT Phone, an AI-driven prototype that blends smartphone design, portable imaging and robotics.

LI Jian, Honor's CEO, said the company sees smartphones evolving through three stages — from iPhones to AI Phones, and eventually to ROBOT Phones. The ROBOT Phone is still in the engineering-validation stage and will debut at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) early next year.

Before launching the concept, Honor released the Magic8 series, the first model in its "AI Phone" phase — a transitional step toward the next generation of intelligent devices. Each model includes a dedicated AI key that activates the YOYO assistant for real-time visual recognition, search and task automation, reviving a once-abandoned idea as brands from Apple to OPPO race to integrate on-device AI into everyday use.

The move underscores how Chinese manufacturers are redefining hardware around AI as the smartphone market matures. OPPO and vivo have both set up robotics labs, while Apple and Huawei are stepping up their AI capabilities — reflecting a broader shift toward "AI-native" devices.

Li said the ROBOT Phone embodies Honor's ambition to combine smarter hardware, portable imaging and emotional interaction in a single device. The company is also investing heavily in imaging, long viewed as its weakness, with more than 1,000 engineers now focused on camera development.

Earlier this year, Honor entered the robotics field and showed a prototype robot running at 4 meters per second — an industry record. The work feeds into its ROBOT Phone concept, part of the company's broader push to make smartphones more intelligent and autonomous.