Follow ZDNET: Add us as a favorite source On Google.
It’s strange to think that, on the same day Honor announced its most ambitious foldable phone yet, I was drawn to a different device.
At Mobile World Congress, the Chinese electronics maker reintroduced its robot phone, which was first introduced at CES in January, this time on the Barcelona show floor with features designed to please the crowd.
Also: Best of MWC 2026: Live updates on the phones, concepts, and robots we’re seeing
It was clear from the oohs and aahs of the weekend audience that this pocketable robot could be even more attractive than the back-flipping humanoid robots that brands continue to tout as slow-moving housekeepers and pet sitters. It certainly was for me.
That’s because the Honor Robot Phone is designed with more practicality in mind than I expected, although some features may raise more privacy and security concerns than anything else. Let’s break it all down.
a familiar gimmick
The main attraction of the robot phone is its gimbal-stabilized camera that emerges from the back of the device. Perhaps I have more confidence in this kind of feature because I’ve been using gimbal-stabilized webcams for work meetings for a long time. They are ideal for keeping subjects in frame, keeping recordings stable, and portable in size.
Integrating one into the phone offers the same benefits, but it can now be leveraged for more powerful use cases like recording 4K video and capturing smooth-panning panoramic shots with a 200MP sensor (although according to Honor it’s limited to 90° and 180°).
Some people may be more charmed by the multimodal AI capabilities provided by gimbal cameras, such as providing real-time suggestions or solutions – correct and accurate, hopefully – to common problems. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the “how to fix my bike tire” example by now.
Also: The most ambitious foldable phone I owned at MWC 2026, and it’s full of new records
To give the robot phone more personality, Honor’s playfully developed software makes the camera nod, nod and even dance when it interacts. watching the introduction video The robot phone reminded me of the fantastical qualities we now give to robots like WALL-E and R2-D2.
When not in operation, the camera can fit itself snugly into the back cover, thanks to the micro motor that powers it. This is important, because physically hiding the camera is the only way to guarantee that it’s not recording anything without your knowledge. One led indicator This is not enough in today’s era.
what comes next?
Honor hasn’t shared much about the “phone” part of the robot phone, but the company has confirmed that the device will launch in China in the second half of this year, before anything else. The company has done the same with its traditional phone releases, so this isn’t a surprising market strategy.
It remains to be seen how the motorized, ‘dancing’ neck phone survives the reality of clumsy hands, pockets full of cotton and the thousands of little accidents of daily life. Honor is betting on a new kind of smartphone – now we’ll see if it’s tough enough to survive in the wild.
