We got a real-world early look at the smartphone with a built-in camera gimbal

How do you innovate with a new smartphone in 2026? Satellite connectivity? Been there. Folding screens? Done that. And while it’s easy enough to find a gimmick that no one’s tried before, it’s a lot more difficult to to come up with something new that’s also genuinely useful. This year at CES, Honor is showing off its latest progress towards accomplishing just that.

We got our first look at the Honor Robot Phone back in October, when the company initially teased this one-of-a-kind design. The idea is that instead of a fixed rear camera, the Robot Phone incorporates and articulated gimbal arm, just like the kind you’d see on a something like a DJI Osmo Pocket. With real-time sensor feedback, that gives you Steadicam-like stability — or, at least, it will, once HONOR actually launches it.

Right now the plan is to formally launch the Robot phone at MWC 2026 in early March. While the overall look and concept is largely finalized, key specs and functionality are still being nailed down, and we haven’t yet been able to actually play with the Robot phone in action. But even with a lot of unknowns remaining there, it’s now more clear than ever: This wild idea is actually happening.

Seeing the Robot phone in person, it’s almost shocking how HONOR was able to pull this arrangement off. The camera gimbal hardware, arm in all, looks about as compact as reasonably possible for a system that still needs to hold up to real-world use and abuse — but it’s still pretty chunky. That’s what makes it all the more impressive how HONOR was able to find room for this hardware.

Peeking inside, the space the gimbal folds into for storage looks positively massive — testament to how good manufactures have gotten at slimming down other phone components. And when tucked safely away, a shutter slides closed to protect the hardware. This is another part that HONOR is still working out, so we couldn’t yet see it in action, but the idea is to have this all nice and automatic, something you don’t have to worry about but is always ready to deploy the gimbal camera when you need it.

While the hardware is still being finalized, HONOR is thinking ahead about what it wants users doing with the software, and how a gimbal like this might best be used. Lay the phone down flat on its screen, and the gimbal is in an ideal position to follow you as you walk around. Combine that with features like one that helps you choose outfits with an AI-powered fit check, and you can start to see how many unexpected ways a system like this could be useful.

Still, the devil’s in the details, and we’re hugely curious to get the full picture on everything from camera resolution, to sensor size, to just how well the camera might deal with excess heat — we can’t help but notice all those ventilation holes on the back. But with MWC only another couple months away, we’re in good shape to be getting those answers soon.