Honor Robot Phone launches with pop-up gimbal camera in China
Honor launched the Robot Phone on Wednesday, a flagship device that deploys a motorised camera module to turn itself into a gimbal‑stabilised action camera.
Source: SoyaCincau · August 14, 2026 at 4:08 AM · AI-assisted report
Single-source
KUALA LUMPUR, 14 AUGUST 2026 —
Honor launched the Robot Phone on Wednesday, a flagship device that deploys a motorised camera module to turn itself into a gimbal‑stabilised action camera.
Market Impact
The handset goes on pre‑order in China with two configurations: RM12,000 (12 GB RAM, 512 GB storage) or RM15,000 (16 GB RAM, 1 TB storage), according to the company.
Honor said the 4‑DoF mechanical system, built around a titanium Agile Gimbal, shrinks the gimbal assembly 65% versus mainstream units while lifting structural strength 200%. The 2.6 g titanium gimbal motor reaches 360° per second, while the Super steel flip motor delivers 120 Nm/L torque density for fast, precise movement in a 9.59 mm body weighing 248 g.
The rear triple camera includes a 200 MP f/1.6 main sensor with a 1/1.28-inch chip, a 200 MP periscope telephoto (1/1.4-inch, 2.7× optical zoom) and a 50 MP f/2.0 ultra-wide (122° FOV). Video can be captured in 10-bit ARRI LogC3 with ARRI Wide Gamut 3 and ARRI Looks via the Honor H1 Image Chip, and AI tools raise video SNR by 8 dB and dynamic range to 14 stops.
MagicOS powers a YOYO Robot Mode that adds multimodal perception, gesture recognition and physical movement to the handset. YOYO Auto Execution interprets user intent to run multi-step tasks across apps, and an open Agent Skills interface lets third-party developers build new experiences that use the gimbal, sensors and robotics.
The phone carries a 6.31-inch LTPO OLED display with a 1–120 Hz adaptive refresh rate and a claimed 6,800‑nit peak brightness. Performance comes from a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC and up to 1 TB storage. Battery capacity is 7,060 mAh with 120 W wired and 50 W wireless charging.
Honor lists IP54 dust and water resistance, but warns the extended camera increases drop risk and introduces mechanical complexity that may affect long-term reliability.
Past attempts at moving camera hardware—such as the Oppo N1 (2013) and Honor 7i (2015)—largely disappeared as makers prioritised durability and waterproofing. The Robot Phone’s gimbal‑in‑a‑phone design marks a fresh engineering challenge, and market acceptance of the added weight and fragility remains untested.
The device targets solo content creators who need an automated follow cam, letting them place the phone on a table and let AI Live-Tracking and voice localisation keep the subject framed during video calls, livestreams or recordings.