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 multimodal AI capabilities allowed the phone to make all-angle video calls and respond to user commands with nods or even dance to music, the company said.Honor’s vision for its robot phone contrasts with other AI agent handsets on the market, which mainly rely on screen capture and voice commands to understand and implement tasks. The phone’s gimbal-attached camera could rival action camera makers such as DJI because of its stability and ability to follow objects in fast-moving scenarios.The camera arm and multimodal AI capabilities allow the robot phone to make all-angle video calls, according to Honor. Photo: HandoutAt the launch, the Shenzhen-based handset maker also debuted its first humanoid robot, which was expected to act as a shopping assistant, workplace inspector and companion to users, leveraging Honor’s technology expertise and understanding of mobile devices.