Our first look at the Honor Robot Phone

I can’t believe I’m writing these words into the WhistleOut CMS: Honor has convinced me that its ridiculous Robot Phone might be real. Or at least more real than I expected.

First teased late last year and officially shown off at this year’s Mobile World Congress, the Honor Robot Phone is a smartphone with a gimbal-mounted camera that pops out from the back of the device. 

This unorthodox inclusion integrates with AI in a way that’s sort-of reminiscent of other robotic companions like Sony’s Aibo. 

During my demo with Honor Robot Phone, I used a simple set of hand gestures to activate the robot. Once awakened, the device's gimbal-mounted camera system would follow me as I moved and respond to a limited selection of commands. 

The Robot Phone doesn’t have a voice per se, but it was able to provide chatbot-style responses to voice input via a text window on the screen. This interactivity felt similar to something like Google's Gemini Live, albeit with a little more yelling to offset the ambient noise of the show floor.

After a brief back and forth with the bot, an Honor representative demonstrated a number of “dances” that the Robot Phone is capable of performing. This feature is somewhat novel — and sure enough, it does play on video — but I struggle to imagine it being something that would help me justify paying the potential premium that comes with a device like this one. 

There’s also the durability question. More than anything else, Honor’s Robot Phone reminded me of OPPO’s Find X — which incorporated and concealed — mechanical parts in a similar way. Honor’s booth at MWC went to great lengths to show off the guage the toughness of its latest foldable device. 

However, when it comes to the Robot Phone’s own robustness, there are a lot of questions and few answers. The way that Robot Phone’s trademark feature swivels into focus is snappy and impressive at first blush, but it’s hard to know how those moving parts will hold up over the long run.

Even so, I found myself warming to the device faster than I expected. While the marketing for this unique spin on the smartphone formula has largely played up the idea of this form-factor paving the way for you to have an AI companion in your pocket, less ink has been spilled about the potential for this hardware to enable smoother videography.  

Personally, I’m much more interested in a smartphone with a built-in gimbal than I am in one with a little robot guy latched onto the back of it. I doubt I'm the only one, but I can't say I'm shocked that Honor's marketing team have opted for the robotics angle. "Gimbal Phone" doesn’t have the same ring to it.

As part of the demo, an Honor spokesperson also showed off how the same hardware used for the Robot Phone’s AI companion elements can be redeployed to offer better image stabilisation, as well as more advanced filming techniques like subject tracking, pans and more. It’s easy to see how these capabilities could make the Robot Phone a winner for those who want to pair the versatility of something like the DJI Osmo Pocket with the power of a modern flagship smartphone camera.

According to Honor, the Robot Phone will ship “soon” - though it’s seemingly reluctant to elaborate on what that timeframe actually looks like, nor how much the Robot Phone might cost. 

Still, I’ve seen no shortage of vapourware at shows like Mobile World Congress and CES over the years and if the Robot Phone does end up not shipping alongside the likes of Samsung’s Ballie, I wouldn’t be that shocked. At the same time, though — and for all the huff and hype about having a robotic companion — the reality is that Honor have built a smartphone with a camera hardware setup that’s genuinely innovative and more original than anything else on the market. 

Even if Honor doesn't bring a smartphone with a built-in gimbal to market, surely someone else will.

Disclosure: WhistleOut Australia's coverage of Mobile World Congress 2026 is supported by OPPO.

Fergus Halliday

Digital Content Editor

Fergus Halliday is a journalist and digital content editor at WhistleOut Australia. He’s written about technology, telecommunications, gaming and more for over a decade. He got his start writing in high school before interning at magazines like CRN Australia and freelancing for publications like the AU Review, Gizmodo, Kotaku, GamesHub, Press Start, ScreenRant, Superjump, Nestegg, and more.

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