Honor launches Robot Phone with automated titanium gimbal in China

Honor has officially launched the Robot Phone in China, marking the commercial debut of a smartphone equipped with an automated, titanium pop-up camera gimbal. The device, which has been anticipated since a hands-off demonstration in March, is now available for preorder with official sales commencing on 18 August. The launch is currently exclusive to the Chinese market.

The defining feature of the Robot Phone is its mechanical camera system, which supports 360-degree rotation and various cinematic movement modes including tilt lock, FPV view, and spinshot. The gimbal utilises an integrated AI algorithm for subject tracking, automatically panning and tilting to follow subjects, while also supporting hands-free gesture control for deployment and capture.

Honor has partnered with cinema camera manufacturer Arri to develop the device’s imaging capabilities. The rear setup comprises a dual 200MP camera system, featuring both a main lens and a telephoto lens. This collaboration introduces AI-assisted noise reduction, extended dynamic range, and the ability to output RAW files, with real-time footage previewing available on the device.

Under the hood, the smartphone runs on MagicOS and features a Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 processor paired with a custom-built cooling system. The operating system includes a new 'YOYO Robot Mode' that combines multimodal perception, contextual understanding, and gesture recognition to anthropomorphise the camera gimbal. Honor has also announced plans to open the platform to third-party developers to utilise these embodied-interaction capabilities.

Hardware specifications include a 6.3-inch OLED display with adaptive refresh rates and a peak brightness of 6,800 nits, supported by a 7,060mAh battery. The device is offered in two configurations: 12GB of RAM with 512GB of storage, and 16GB of RAM with 1TB of storage. Pricing is set at approximately $1,480 USD for the base model and $2,075 USD for the top-tier version.