Honor Unveils the World’s First “Robot Phone” in China

On August 12, 2026 Honor announced the Honor Robot Phone, a flagship Android handset with a motorised three-axis gimbal camera. Sales begin in mainland China on August 18, 2026. Pre-orders opened the same day; the base model (12 GB RAM, 512 GB storage) is ¥9,999 (? $1,483) and the higher-end model (16 GB RAM, 1 TB) ¥12,999 (? $2,075).

Engadget

Honor first teased the “robot phone” in late 2025, showed a mock-up at CES (Jan 2026) and a working prototype at Mobile World Congress (Mar 2026). The key innovation is a 4-degree-of-freedom titanium-alloy gimbal that folds out from the rear camera module. Honor partnered with German cinema-camera maker ARRI to embed ARRI’s color-science tools and a dedicated cinema mode.

HONOR Robot Phone Launches – ARRI LogC3, Wide Gamut 3, and a Motorized Titanium Gimbal Camera

• Display: 6.31-inch LTPO OLED, 1–120 Hz, 6,800 nits peak.

Hot gear: The Honor Robot Phone could change the game for on-the-go content creation

• Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with custom cooling.

Honor's Robot Phone Debuts in China With a Motorized Gimbal Camera — BigGo Finance

• Memory/Storage: 12 GB + 512 GB or 16 GB + 1 TB (UFS 3.1).

Engadget

• Battery: 7,060 mAh silicon-carbon, 120 W wired / 50 W wireless fast charging.

HONOR Robot Phone Launches – ARRI LogC3, Wide Gamut 3, and a Motorized Titanium Gimbal Camera

• Camera system:

CNET

• Main gimbal – 200 MP, 1/1.28-in sensor, f/1.6, 4DoF motor (2.6 g, 360° s?¹).

TechRadar

• Periscope telephoto – 200 MP, 1/1.4-in sensor, f/2.6, 2.7× optical zoom.

HONOR & ARRI’s Robot Phone Officially Launched

• Ultra-wide – 50 MP, 122° FOV, f/2.0.

HONOR & ARRI’s Robot Phone Officially Launched

• Imaging pipeline: Honor H1 chip, 14-bit 4:4:4 processing, 10-bit LogC3 output, up to 14 stops dynamic range, AI-assisted noise reduction.

HONOR & ARRI’s Robot Phone Officially Launched

• Durability: IP54 rating applies only when the gimbal is fully retracted; the moving arm is excluded.

TechRadar

• Software: MagicOS 10 on Android 16, YOYO Robot Mode with gesture, voice and AI-driven subject tracking.

CNET

Hands-on reports note smoother footage than software-only stabilization and reliable AI subject tracking in video calls and vlogging. Reviewers found the arm deploys quickly, the on-screen joystick offers fine manual control, and the ARRI-derived LogC3 mode retains highlight detail. The phone’s thickness (9.6 mm) and weight (? 248 g) are higher than typical flagships, and the sliding cover required to expose the gimbal raises durability concerns.

The Verge

• Pricing conversions: Sources list the base price as $1,480 or $1,483, both derived from ¥9,999.

Hands-on: Somehow, the Honor Robot Phone is a real, flagship-grade gimbal phone

• IP rating: Honor advertises IP54 for the chassis, but the rating does not cover the extended gimbal.

Hands-on: Somehow, the Honor Robot Phone is a real, flagship-grade gimbal phone

• Availability outside China: The device is China-only at launch; no timeline for international release has been given.

Honor unveils world's first robot phone, the Robot Phone, starting at 9,999 yuan — BigGo Finance

• “They are showing the art of the possible with a highly differentiated product, which will get a lot of attention amongst technology enthusiasts,” — Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight

CNET

• “Honor is pioneering a new era of mobile imaging, where technology exists to inspire creativity and storytelling,” — James Li, Honor CEO

PetaPixel