The HONOR Robot Phone’s biggest trick is also the easiest to understand: its camera can physically move.

Instead of keeping its cameras fixed inside the phone, HONOR built a mechanical gimbal directly into the device. The system can tilt, rotate, and reposition the camera, opening up movements that aren’t possible with a conventional smartphone camera.

HONOR calls it the Titanium Agile Gimbal, and the company says it is the industry’s smallest 4DoF gimbal system. It packs more than 100 precision components into a module that’s just 9.59mm thick.

A tiny gimbal inside the phone

The 4DoF mechanical system is designed to deliver the benefits of a separate gimbal without requiring users to carry another piece of equipment.

HONOR says it reduced the gimbal’s overall volume by 65% compared with traditional gimbals while increasing its structural strength by 200%. The system uses more than 100 precision components and is backed by more than 100 patents.

At its core is a 2.6-gram titanium gimbal motor that can rotate at up to 360 degrees per second. A separate HONOR Shield Steel Flip Motor provides a torque density of 120 Nm/L.

Those numbers sound impressive, but their practical purpose is straightforward: the camera needs to move quickly and precisely while remaining small enough to fit inside a smartphone.

The camera can move on its own

The Robot Phone’s gimbal isn’t limited to simply stabilizing the camera.

It supports six dynamic camera movement modes: AI SpinShot, Default Stabilization, Tilt Locked, Super Steady, FPV, and FPV Vertical. AI SpinShot, for example, can perform 90- or 180-degree camera rolls, while the other modes are designed for different types of movement and shooting.

The phone also has three smart tracking modes: Gimbal Tracking, Subject Tracking, and Pre-Composition. These are designed to help the camera follow a subject or maintain a particular composition while the phone moves.

That’s the important distinction between the Robot Phone and a conventional smartphone with image stabilization. The camera isn’t just correcting for your movement. It can actively move to create or maintain a shot.

You can tell it what to do

HONOR also gives the gimbal its own set of AI-powered controls.

Through YOYO Robot Mode, the Robot Phone can combine voice commands, gesture recognition, AI perception, and physical movement. Users can wake the mode and deploy or stow the gimbal with a flip gesture.

Voice commands can be specific, too. HONOR says users can tell the gimbal to turn left by a certain number of degrees, look toward the sky, or rotate for a specified amount of time.

The phone can also use AI Subject Tracking to automatically frame and follow people during video calls, vlogging, and livestreaming.

That makes the Robot Phone particularly interesting for people who regularly shoot themselves. Instead of setting up a phone and constantly checking whether they’re still in frame, the camera can do some of that work itself.

The real question is how naturally all of this works in practice. We’ll get to answer that when we spend more time with the Robot Phone.

The HONOR Robot Phone is finally becoming a real product.

First shown at MWC 2026, HONOR has now officially launched the unusual smartphone. It’s bringing its moving camera system, AI-powered controls, and ARRI imaging technology to a commercial device.

The Robot Phone stands out because its camera doesn’t simply sit inside the phone. A built-in mechanical gimbal allows the camera to physically move, while AI features can help control that movement.

HONOR is positioning the device as a new kind of smartphone for people who want more freedom when shooting photos and videos.

A camera that can physically move

The Robot Phone’s standout feature is its 4DoF mechanical gimbal. HONOR’s Titanium Agile Gimbal uses more than 100 precision components and is backed by more than 100 patents. The company says it reduced the system’s size by 65% compared with traditional gimbals while increasing its structural strength by 200%.

In practical terms, the gimbal lets the phone’s camera physically move instead of relying entirely on software to stabilize footage. Its titanium motor can rotate at up to 360 degrees per second, allowing the camera to quickly change direction.

The phone supports six camera movement modes, including AI SpinShot, Tilt Locked, Super Steady, FPV, and FPV Vertical. It also has three tracking modes for following subjects and setting up compositions.

That could give smartphone creators more control over moving shots without having to carry a separate gimbal.

AI can control the camera

The Robot Phone also combines its moving hardware with AI.

Its YOYO Robot Mode can use voice commands, gestures, and AI-powered tracking to control the camera. Voice Source Localization and AI Live-Tracking can automatically pan and tilt the camera. This keeps a person in frame during activities such as vlogging, livestreaming, and video calls.

The briefing materials also show how specific these controls can get. Users can give commands such as telling the camera to turn left by a certain angle, look toward the sky, or rotate for a set amount of time.

The idea is simple: instead of always pointing the phone yourself, you can tell the phone where and how you want it to look.

YOYO can also perform more general tasks through HONOR’s agentic AI features, including multi-step actions across supported apps and system settings.

HONOR brings ARRI into the camera

The Robot Phone also marks the first product milestone from HONOR’s Cinematic Imaging Partnership with ARRI.

The collaboration brings selected elements of ARRI Image Science and professional cinema workflows to the smartphone. The main camera supports 10-bit ARRI LogC3 recording, while the phone also supports ARRI Wide Gamut 3 and ARRI Looks.

In simpler terms, these technologies are designed to give creators more control over the look and color of their footage, particularly when they edit it afterward.

HONOR says the phone’s imaging pipeline processes image data in 14-bit 4:4:4 before outputting 10-bit LogC3 and 4:2:2 video. It also claims up to 14 stops of dynamic range and an 8dB improvement in video signal-to-noise ratio through AI noise reduction.

The resulting footage can be brought into software such as DaVinci Resolve. There, creators can apply ARRI LUTs as part of a capture-to-edit workflow.

We’ll have more to say about that workflow once we get our hands on the Robot Phone.

Flagship hardware underneath

The Robot Phone isn’t all camera tricks. It is also equipped like a flagship smartphone.

The phone runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform and includes HONOR’s H1 Imaging Chip. It has a 7,060mAh silicon-carbon battery with 120W wired and 50W wireless charging.

For photography, there’s a 200MP Agile Gimbal Main Camera with a 1/1.28-inch sensor and f/1.6 aperture. It’s joined by a 200MP periscope telephoto camera with a 1/1.4-inch sensor and 2.7x optical zoom, plus a 50MP ultra-wide camera.

The phone has a 6.31-inch LTPO OLED display with a 1–120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 6,800 nits. It comes in 12GB + 512GB and 16GB + 1TB configurations.

HONOR says the Robot Phone will be available in Grey and Silver in China, with pricing and availability details to be announced at launch.

The Robot Phone has spent months making appearances at major events. Now, after its MWC debut and subsequent showcases, HONOR is finally putting the device on the path to becoming something consumers can actually buy.

We’ll update this story with final China pricing, availability, and pre-order details once HONOR officially announces them.

I don’t upgrade simply because there’s a newer model on the shelf.

Last year, I upgraded to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 after spending three years with the iPhone 13 as my daily driver.

Even then, the decision wasn’t about chasing the latest release. It was about finding a device that better matched how I work.

I’m a firm believer that every upgrade has to earn its place in my pocket, especially when there are already perfectly capable phones sitting on my desk.

So when I decided to pre-order the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8, the decision wasn’t simply about getting the newest device.

It came down to two questions: It came down to two questions: Is this a smart upgrade? And if it is, what’s the smartest way to own it?

The first question was answered by the device itself. The second is where Maya Mini Payments entered the conversation.

For me, the Flip8 addresses the reasons to upgrade. Maya Mini Payments addresses one of the biggest reasons people hesitate: big purchases that could be paid in 3, 6, 9 or 12 monthly payments.

Changing how I shoot and use my phone

I spend most of my day switching between shooting, editing, and posting, sometimes all within the same hour.

One of the biggest reasons the Galaxy Z Flip8 caught my attention is the cover screen. It’s finally useful enough that I can shoot, preview, and interact with content without constantly opening the device.

That may sound like a small change, but it makes a difference when you’re trying to capture candid moments before people notice a camera pointed at them.

It also makes everyday tasks easier. I can check a script, review a shotlist, reply to messages, or glance at notifications without unfolding the phone every few minutes.

For years, foldables often felt like they required some compromise. You gained a unique form factor and flexibility, but sometimes gave up a little on the camera experience. The Flip8 feels like it’s closing that gap.

Samsung’s improvements in low-light performance and stabilization are especially noticeable for the kind of run-and-gun content I create.

I haven’t spent enough time with it to call this a full review yet, but my first impressions have been positive. The experience feels more refined and more dependable than previous generations.

Features alone don’t convince me to upgrade. They have to solve a real problem. The more useful cover screen, the improved camera experience, and the overall refinement were the first signs that the Flip8 was offering something I’d actually use every day rather than another feature to add to a spec sheet.

The battery and multitasking finally match my day

The less exciting reason I’m upgrading is also the one that affects me the most.

Between filming, reviewing footage, answering emails, coordinating campaigns, and managing social media, my phone is constantly working.

My old device usually drops into battery-saving territory before dinner. It gets the job done, but I spend too much time thinking about charging instead of working.

The Galaxy Z Flip8 feels better equipped for that reality. The battery efficiency is improved, and multitasking feels more natural when juggling multiple apps throughout the day.

Those aren’t flashy features, but they’re the kinds of upgrades that quietly improve everyday productivity. They’re also the features that convinced me this wasn’t simply a want. It was an upgrade I could actually justify.

Once I was convinced the Flip8 was worth upgrading to, I realized the decision wasn’t really over. A smart upgrade also deserves a smart way to pay for it.

Making a big upgrade more manageable

Of course, deciding a device is worth upgrading to is only half the equation. The other half is figuring out how to pay for it.

The Galaxy Z Flip8 is a premium device, and for most people, the upfront cost is what gives them pause. That’s often where upgrade decisions get delayed, even when the device itself makes sense.

That’s why Maya Mini Payments stood out to me. Any Samsung purchase paid with a Maya Credit Card can be converted into Mini Payments directly through the Maya app, making it easier to spread the cost into monthly installments instead of paying for everything upfront in one go.

You can choose installment plans of up to 12 months at a fixed monthly add-on interest rate of 1%.

For Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Flip8 purchases, cardholders can enjoy a 3-month Mini Payment plan at 0% interest, making the upgrade more manageable without additional interest costs on the installment plan.

What I like about the concept is that it mirrors the reason I like the Flip8 itself.

The Flip8 makes it easy for me to shoot, edit, communicate, and multitask throughout the day. Maya Mini Payments makes it easy to purchase by turning one large expense into a payment plan that fits more naturally into a monthly budget.

Both are practical solutions to real-world problems. Also, the entire process can be managed directly within the Maya app, making it easy to track and manage installment conversions without additional paperwork.

 

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Still on the fence?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 feels like one of the strongest cases yet for upgrading to a foldable.

For me, the cover screen is more useful, the camera experience feels more capable, and the battery and multitasking improvements better match how I actually work every day.

If you prefer a larger screen for productivity, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 follows the same philosophy while giving users even more room to multitask and create.

If you’ve already decided Samsung’s latest foldables are your next devices, there’s also a smarter way to make that upgrade happen.

All your Samsung purchases made using a Maya Credit Card can be converted into a 3-month Mini Payment plan at 0% interest, with zero processing fees until September 30, making it easier to enjoy Samsung’s latest innovations without one big upfront payment.

Pre-orders run until August 13, with devices available in-store beginning August 14.