Huawei Spinoff Honor to Launch Humanoid Robot
Honor, the tech brand spun out from Huawei, announced it will launch a humanoid robot. The move is part of the company's broader strategic shift toward creating an "AI device ecosystem," signaling another major consumer electronics player is entering the robotics race.
The move is part of a larger $10 billion, five-year investment called the "Honor Alpha Plan" aimed at transforming the company into a leader in AI. This strategy involves creating an open, cross-brand device ecosystem where AI services can be integrated across smartphones, robots, and other hardware. At MWC 2026, Honor showcased the unnamed robot performing a choreographed dance routine, including a moonwalk, to demonstrate its mobility. The company stated the robot is designed for consumer-facing roles like shopping assistance, workplace inspections, and "supportive companionship," rather than industrial factory work. This humanoid robot was presented alongside the "Honor Robot Phone," a device with a motorized 4DoF gimbal camera system. This "embodied AI" concept allows the phone to physically react and track motion, signaling Honor's focus on integrating hardware movement with AI. The Robot Phone is slated for a commercial release in China in the second half of 2026. Honor's entry into robotics leverages a partnership with Unitree Robotics; an early collaboration saw an Honor-trained Unitree robot set a speed record for humanoid robots at 4 meters per second. This partnership strategy provides a pragmatic way to enter a technically complex field without building all hardware from the ground up. The push into robotics comes as the global market for advanced robotics is projected to grow from $53.74 billion in 2025 to $280.01 billion by 2034. Honor joins a competitive field that includes established players like Boston Dynamics and startups such as Figure AI and Unitree, all racing to commercialize humanoid robots. This initiative is part of a broader "Cambrian Explosion" in AI devices, as described by Honor's President of Products, Fang Fei. The company's vision extends beyond single devices to a connected ecosystem unified by a cross-device AI agent that acts as a user's "digital twin," seamlessly transferring tasks between a phone, a robot, a car, or a smart home system.
