HONOR Shows off Futuristic “Robot Phone” with Pop-Out AI Camera

The camera bump on our phones are getting ridiculously large. While this can be mitigated to a certain extent with phone cases, it’s still there. Now, this has always been somewhat of a “problem” in the past, and some phone makers have tried to fix it. It looks like HONOR might have come up with a solution with its new “Robot Phone” concept.

HONOR’s Robot Phone has a pop-out camera

HONOR has recently taken the wraps off its latest concept smartphone, the HONOR Robot Phone. This is a phone that has a foldable camera on the back of it, which then pops up into some kind of DJI gimbal-like device.

Now, we know that this is a concept. But even then, the camera module looks huge and we’re not sure how HONOR would get it to fit if it were to be made into an actual product. The company describes it as a “revolutionary AI device that fuses multi-modal intelligence, advanced robotics, and next-generation imaging.”

It’s actually quite a cool and clever idea. The video also shows how the AI combined with the camera gives it some sort of “personality,” where it can tilt its head to the left or right like you might expect from a human or a pet. Towards the end, HONOR says “See you in Barcelona 2026,” which is when MWC 2026 is taking place. Will the company have some sort of working prototype ready for us? We’ll have to wait and see.

Not the first time we’re seeing such a device

If this concept looks familiar, it’s because HONOR isn’t the first to think of this concept. In the past, to address the camera bump, other phone makers have created cameras that pop out of phones. We’re talking about devices like the OnePlus 7 Pro and the vivo 15 Pro. Both of these phones have tiny pop-out cameras.

We kind of get the idea that they’re going for, but it’s not without its issues. For example, what if the mechanism fails? Or what if you drop your phone and the camera breaks off? These are some of the reasons why these designs have never really taken off. OPPO tried something different with the OPPO Find X with a slideout camera system. But once again, while novel, it failed to catch on.

Either way, it’s nice to see phone makers trying and experimenting with new ideas. The smartphone scene has matured considerably, so coming up with new and interesting ideas is one way to keep customers talking.