Whereas Honor has already made loads of product bulletins, with tablets, foldables and extra, its most attention-grabbing system at MWC 2026 is the Robotic Cellphone — and possibly the humanoid robotic that got here alongside it.
After briefly exhibiting off a mannequin at CES, Honor is not fairly able to launch its Robotic Cellphone. Nevertheless, we received extra specs, tech demos and a better look following the corporate’s MWC press occasion in Barcelona. The Robotic Cellphone is presently set to launch later this 12 months.
Picture by Mat Smith for Engadget
Honor has put a variety of effort into guaranteeing its digital camera gimbal is very cellular, to the purpose of making a tiny private robotic that’s, dare I say, lovely? The Robotic Cellphone’s pop-up digital camera can cock its head, shake to say no, nod to agree, and even “flip” – or at the very least rotate 360 levels. In line with Honor’s presentation, it could possibly even bop alongside to songs. A spokesperson informed me that it is received 5 songs in its repertoire, so it is not clear whether or not they’re programmed for these type of demos, or can be a characteristic of the ultimate retail system.
One other demo right here at MWC confirmed how you would make the Robotic Cellphone “sleep” by overlaying its gimbal eye, although it is odd that the digital camera continues to be uncovered reasonably than folded away. My important concern with the Robotic Cellphone is the robustness and sturdiness of its robotic mechanisms. We have lived via a number of waves of smartphones that tried a lot less complicated mechanical digital camera features and the specter of mud or heavy-handed customers cannot be ignored.
Picture by Mat Smith for Engadget
The corporate says it is taken what it realized from foldables, relating to high-performance supplies and simulation accuracy, and utilized it to shrinking the digital camera module. On stage, Honor CEO James Li revealed what he calls the business’s smallest micro motor, a lot smaller than a 1-euro coin and, he added, 70 % smaller than present micro motors.
As this element has been decreased considerably, the Robotic Cellphone’s gimbal would be the business’s smallest 4-degrees-of-freedom gimbal system. That is a spec – we lastly received a spec! It’s going to additionally provide three-axis stabilization on this tiny digital camera bundle, with the first digital camera utilizing a 200-megapixel sensor.
The fold-away panel that the first digital camera tucks into additionally reveals extra typical cameras, so you are not pressured to make use of the gimbal when you do not want it. Nonetheless, that is one very thick digital camera unit:
Picture by Mat Smith for Engadget
Honor has already began constructing out digital camera modes and options, with a Tremendous Regular Video mode that enhances stability whereas swinging the Robotic Cellphone round to seize video. AI Object Monitoring will apparently intelligently observe topics, whereas AI SpinShot helps clever 90-degree and 180-degree rotational motion for extra cinematic transitions. We have seen these kinds of pre-programmed actions and features in full-size cellphone gimbals and motion cams. If Honor can nail it in such a tiny type, it’s going to be spectacular.
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