Honor will debut its first embodied AI humanoid robot at MWC Barcelona
The robot is optimised for consumer services, featuring advanced shopping assistance
Honor Robot Phone concept features a gimbal-mounted pop-up camera that tracks subjects autonomously
Honor Joins Global Robotics Race with Debut of its First Consumer-Service Humanoid at MWC 2026
Honor is positioning itself as the first major smartphone manufacturer to dive directly into the humanoid sector, competing with fellow Chinese giants like Xiaomi and specialized firms like Unitree
Agibot robot
Summary
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Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor is set to launch its first humanoid robot in about a week, Bloomberg reported. The robot is reportedly designed to handle consumer service tasks such as shopping assistance and is expected to be unveiled at the MWC Barcelona tech conference this weekend.
Honor will also reportedly showcase its latest artificial intelligence developments under the ‘Honor Robot Phone’.
The move comes as Chinese companies race to build advanced products in the fast-growing humanoid robotics and AI sector.
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Honor’s AI Plans
As per the report, Honor has launched a multibillion-dollar initiative to expand into new industries, with a strong focus on AI and emerging applications. The company is also developing its own agentic AI services which will be integrated into smartphones and other devices.
Honor said it aims to become the first among its direct competitors to enter the humanoid robot segment. However, Huawei, which was spun off from Honor in 2020, is also working on AI models for similar applications.
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Honor, which is reportedly backed by the Shenzhen government’s investment arm and several state-owned enterprises, has also said it is preparing for a public listing, although it has not announced a timeline.
China Leading Humanoid Robot Race
Out of the 13,000 humanoid robots shipped globally last year, the vast majority were deployed in China, Bloomberg reported, citing research firm Omdia.
Chinese humanoid robot manufacturers overtook US companies such as Tesla and Figure AI in terms of shipment volumes.
Chinese start-up Shanghai AgiBot Innovation Technology topped the list of humanoid robot producers in 2025, shipping around 5,168 units. It was followed by Unitree Robotics and UBTech Robotics Corp. According to Omdia’s figures, global industry sales also reportedly increased fivefold compared to 2024.
The integration of AI, which enables robots to perform complex tasks, has driven their adoption across sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and customer service. The report added that robotics companies are heavily investing in advanced AI models to accelerate this trend.
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Chinese humanoid robots are also significantly cheaper than Western-made models. Unitree offers an entry-level model priced at around $6,000, while AgiBot sells a scaled-down version for about $14,000. In comparison, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously indicated a price range of $20,000 to $30,000 for the company’s Optimus humanoid robot, which has not yet entered full-scale production.