At this year’s MWC, Honor has unveiled its curious experiment: Robot Phone is a smartphone equipped with a camera mounted on a robotic arm. The result is an intelligent Camera Phone, designed for cinematic shots and features that leverage AI.
The Chinese company has already confirmed that it’s not a concept: the phone will be on sale soon, and now an insider reveals the specifications we should find under the hood.
Beyond the concept: Honor Robot Phone will arrive next month
Regarding the release, Honor has limited itself to confirming that the launch will take place during the third quarter. According to the leaks so far, the debut would be set for the month of August, in the height of summer. However, at the moment both the exact date and the list of markets where it will be available are missing.
It will be interesting to see if it will arrive in Italy, and, above all, whether it will manage to win over the hearts of users. Surely Honor Robot Phone is not a smartphone for everyone.
Its peculiarity — a camera extendable via an intelligent robotic arm with a four-degree-of-freedom gimbal system — makes it ideal for photography and video enthusiasts, and for digital creators in general.
Top-of-the-line specifications
Now the Chinese insider Digital Chat Station has unveiled the alleged specifications of the device. Not considering its particular form factor, but the technical sheet: Robot Phone should mount a flat 6.3″ or 6.4″ diagonal screen, with 1.5K resolution and ultra-thin bezels on all four sides.
Powering it would be the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, Qualcomm’s latest high-end achievement; the Honor device should be a top-of-the-line flagship in every respect, with a capacious battery of 6,000 mAh to power it.
We already know that photographically the phone mounts a main sensor of 200 MP, with advanced features like AI Object Tracking and AI SpinShot. The picture becomes clearer thanks to the insider, who cites an aperture of f/1.6 and a focal length of 23 mm.
The setup would continue with a 50 MP ultra-wide and a 200 MP periscope telephoto. All of it with Honor’s AI Imaging technology and the collaboration with ARRI, a German brand specializing in producing professional cinema equipment.
The future of Robot Phone
According to rumors that have been circulating for a while, the camera technologies of the robotic smartphone should converge into the upcoming Honor Magic 9 series. Surely the ARRI partnership will continue with the future flagship lineup, but it remains to be seen what new features Robot Phone will bring to the regular series.
Meanwhile there is talk of a second chapter: the device with a robotic arm will not be an isolated experiment and it is very likely we will also see a new model in the future.
