Chinese phone maker Honor to debut humanoid robot as industry eyes embodied AI

Chinese smartphone maker Honor will launch a humanoid robot at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2026, targeting consumer markets such as home services, smart companionship and daily assistance, according to a report in Securities Daily on Monday.

The launch would make Honor, which spun off from Huawei in 2020, a world pioneer as the first among smartphone manufacturers to make a foray into the field of humanoid robotics.

Honor first disclosed its robotics research at a conference in May 2025. The robot features bionic joint design and dynamic balance algorithms, which enable it to run at speeds of up to 4 meters per second, roughly 14 percent faster than Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas.

Artificial intelligence (AI) devices will become the core platform for next-generation human-machine interaction, Honor CEO Li Jian said at the World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit in November, adding that such devices serve as a bridge between the digital and physical worlds and can understand user intent in real time.

Smartphone vendors have inherent advantages in smart hardware, positioning them as strong contenders in both the AI terminal and embodied AI spaces – an area Chinese firms have been investing in for years.

Xiaomi's journey demonstrates this strategic focus. The company launched its quadruped robot CyberDog in 2021. In February 2026, it open-sourced its first robotics foundation model, Xiaomi-Robotics-0, which can run on consumer-grade graphics cards and support real-time inference, lowering deployment costs.

Last year, Chinese smartphone maker vivo set up a Robotics Lab focused on developing the "brain" and "eyes" of robots, concentrating on embodied AI models and imaging technologies.

Apple is also exploring this space. In August last year, Bloomberg reported that the company was developing a tabletop robot combining an iPad-like display with a robotic arm and powered by Siri, positioning it as an AI assistant and companion.

Most smartphone makers are positioning their robotics efforts to serve the personal and household sectors.