Honor’s Robot Phone is a bold new take on the smartphone: Here’s what makes it special

Mobile phones have appeared to reach a standstill, with few innovative advancements and rapidly escalating prices. However, an exception arises from an unexpected source - China. Honor, a Chinese brand, has unveiled a smartphone called the Robot Phone that boasts a unique pop-out motorized gimbal camera, designed to replace traditional action cameras. This unconventional feature has sparked considerable interest within the tech community.

The Robot Phone sports a 6.3-inch OLED screen, which is typical for an Android smartphone when viewed from the front. However, upon flipping it over, the innovation becomes evident. The "Robot Phone" features a robotic arm that extends from the back, housing a 200-megapixel camera capable of moving freely in all three dimensions. This mechanism, dubbed a gimbal, is engineered to operate with precision, involving more than 60 manufacturing processes, over 100 precision components, and more than 100 patents.

One of the standout features of the Robot Phone is its interactive AI, which can be activated manually through the camera app or through gesture-based commands. Once activated, the Yoyo app opens, transforming the phone into a robotic personal assistant capable of interpreting its surroundings and engaging in conversational interactions akin to Google's Gemini Live.

The Robot Phone combines the functionalities of a smartphone and a handheld camera, offering a 200MP main camera, 200MP telephoto, and 50MP ultrawide lens. Co-developed with ARRI, the main camera ensures high-quality photography and videography. Moreover, the device supports three smart-tracking modes and six dynamic camera modes, including an AI SpinShot feature that allows users to rotate the gimbal 90 or 180 degrees while recording for unique cinematic shots.

Recognized as a gold standard in cinematography, ARRI's involvement lends significant credibility to the Robot Phone's potential as a filmmaking tool.

In terms of performance, the Robot Phone features a 6.3-inch LTPO OLED display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and peak brightness of up to 6,800 nits. It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, equipped with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The device also houses a substantial 7,060mAh battery that supports both 120W wired and 50W wireless charging.

Despite its high-end specifications, the Robot Phone is exclusively available in the Chinese market and priced at 9,999 yuan ($1,483) for the 12GB RAM variant and 12,999 yuan ($1,923) for the 16GB version.