Honor launches long-awaited Robot Phone with 360-degree camera gimbal
Honor's Robot Phone combines dual 200MP cameras, a 360-degree gimbal and AI features in a premium smartphone.
Honor has officially opened pre-orders for its long-awaited Robot Phone, bringing a smartphone with an unusual motorised camera system to market. The device is currently available only in China, with sales and deliveries scheduled to begin on 18 August.
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The defining feature is a titanium camera gimbal that rises from the phone and can move in multiple directions, including a full 360-degree rotation. The system is designed to give photographers and video creators greater freedom when capturing shots that would be difficult with a conventional fixed smartphone camera.
A camera designed to move
The Robot Phone’s camera arm can perform a range of cinematic movements, giving users more control over how they record video. Among the available options are tilt lock, FPV view and SpinShot modes, allowing the camera to move while the subject or surrounding scene remains in focus.
Honor has also built AI-powered subject tracking into the system. The camera can automatically pan and tilt to follow a person as they move, potentially making it easier to record hands-free videos. Gesture controls provide another way to interact with the camera, including commands to deploy the camera arm and take photographs or record footage without touching the phone.
The rear camera system is equally ambitious. It features two 200MP cameras, comprising a 200MP main sensor and a 200MP telephoto camera. Honor has also partnered with Arri, a company known for its professional cinema cameras, to bring additional video-focused capabilities to the device.
The partnership is intended to give creators access to features such as AI-assisted noise reduction and improved dynamic range. The Robot Phone can also provide real-time footage previews and support RAW output, giving more experienced photographers and videographers greater flexibility when editing their work.
A smartphone with a robotic personality
The camera hardware is closely tied to the phone’s software. The Robot Phone runs MagicOS and introduces a feature called YOYO Robot Mode, which combines multimodal perception, contextual understanding, gesture recognition and physical movement.
The result is a camera system designed to behave more like a small robotic companion than a conventional smartphone module. During an earlier hands-off demonstration, the camera was shown dancing to music, moving its head in response to interactions and rotating when commanded.
Honor also intends to make the platform available to third-party developers. The company believes developers could build applications and experiences around the phone’s camera movement, perception and interaction capabilities. Honor says third parties will likely “create new experiences using its gimbal, perception and embodied-interaction capabilities.”
That could eventually expand the Robot Phone beyond its initial camera-focused functions. However, the device remains a conventional smartphone beneath the robotic hardware, with specifications designed to compete with other high-end handsets.
High-end hardware and a premium price
A Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 processor powers the Robot Phone and includes a custom cooling system designed to manage heat during demanding tasks. It also packs a 7,060mAh battery, giving it a notably large power capacity for a smartphone of its size.
The device features a 6.3-inch OLED display with an adaptive refresh rate and a peak brightness of 6,800 nits. These specifications are intended to support both everyday smartphone use and more demanding activities such as photography, video recording and content creation.
Honor is offering two configurations in China. The entry model comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, while the higher-end version increases the memory to 16GB and storage to 1TB.
The 12GB model is priced at around US$1,480, while the 16GB and 1TB version costs approximately US$2,075. Pre-orders are now open, with official sales and shipments beginning on 18 August.
For now, Honor has not announced a wider international launch for the Robot Phone. Its unusual combination of a high-resolution camera system, motorised gimbal and robotic software features makes it one of the company’s more experimental smartphones. However, its premium pricing could limit its appeal to enthusiasts and professional content creators.
