I’ve seen the Honor Robot Phone — and it’s like having an opinionated DJI Osmo Pocket 3 stuck to your phone

Honor Robot Phone and DJI Osmo Pocket 3 camera — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Honor's MWC 2026 offerings contain both real devices and futuristic concepts. But as good as the actual launching products like the Magic V6 are, the one that's clearly captured the attention of the tech world is Honor's Robot Phone concept.

On the back of an otherwise regular smartphone, behind a sliding cover, lives a gimbal-mounted 200MP camera, powered by a tiny custom motor. Inspired by the Pixar Lamp (in case you couldn't guess from the way it moves and makes cute oohs and aahs in the trailer), this gimbal is meant to give the phone character and functionality that other smartphones simply can't match.

Honor Robot Phone with gimbal folded — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

While Honor isn't letting the public touch the Robot Phone yet (with one of its minders sharply telling off one TG-er who dared to poke the screen), we've watched the demos closely and reviewed the facts carefully. And what we seem to have here is a phone of two halves, each imagining a future for the smartphone in divergent ways.

The Phone

We'll begin with the hardware first, even though Honor is adamant that this device is more than just a smartphone with a big gimbal bolted to the back. Because, for one, it's actually a remarkably small gimbal.

Honor Robot Phone camera on top of gimbal — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Despite having three axes of movement, a miniature motor ensures the 200MP camera module moves snappily and precisely when required. And there are a lot of potential uses that Honor showed off, such as tracking during recording video calls, super-steady video for when things get hectic, and something Honor calls AI SpinShot. That one lets the gimbal rotate at a set speed to a specific point to create dramatic footage that you would normally need more than just a phone for.

Honor Robot Phone with gimbal camera facing backwards — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Plus, the camera's been built in collaboration with the cinematography masters at ARRI, which is an impressive partnership for a concept device.

Honor Robot Phone tracking a user with its gimbal — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The Robot

To be honest, Honor could have just stopped there - that's more than enough unique functionality to make this concept one worth talking about. But that apparently wasn't enough, which is why this is a Robot Phone rather than a Gimbal Phone or something like that.

Honor Robot Phone judging someone's outfit — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The built-in AI functionality lets you have conversations with the phone, and the gimbal will respond.

Honor showed off the phone nodding or shaking its "head" to respond to user questions, and how it can dance along to music, moving quickly or slowly as the beat requires. You can ask questions too, such as how your outfit looks, and the phone will note what you're wearing and give you some encouragement, with a thoughtful head dip and nod from the camera to accompany it.

Honor Robot Phone viewing crowd — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

There's more AI to find with the camera, too. Honor mentioned on stage how the Robot Phone features "AI editing" and" Agentic shooting," but didn't go into detail about what that meant or how it worked.

Honor Robot Phone on stand — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Honor's presentation also mentioned that the Robot Phone would gain further uses, for both on-desk tasks and out and about, later in the year. So it sounds like Honor plans to keep developing this concept, if not actually turn it into a commercial product you can buy in at least China, if not other countries too.

Which is it first: Robot, or phone?

It's obvious that the Honor Robot Phone is meant to have personality and expressiveness that the average AI-powered phone currently lacks. I don't know if that's something that users want, but I know a few people who are already curious about the gimbal tech that underpins this phone.

Honor Robot Phone in sleep mode — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

For me, I still consider my phone a tool, and I don't need a tool to have a pre-installed character. But perhaps for tech users who have conversations with chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini every day, this is the kind of thing they expect their next phone to have.

Honor seems to have done a clever hedging of its bets with the Robot Phone at MWC 2026. Two ideas about the future in one phone means twice as many chances of making the right call.

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Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.

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