Is the Robot Phone the Future of Mobiles?

At CES in Las Vegas, which began on January 6 and is one of the most awaited annual technology conventions, many concept devices are shown, and while they are often a while away from coming to the market, you get a glimpse of what is coming. One of them is what the future of the phone could be. The mobile's design does not allow for radical changes. It is the same old rectangular block. And while lately foldable screens have led to some rethinking, even that is limited in how much it can veer away from the given. At most, you can switch from a tablet to a phone, both of which are familiar.

But Honor, a Chinese brand, is showcasing something entirely radical—a robot phone. The 'robot' is somewhat of an exaggeration, but still, what the phone does is reimagine the camera. Instead of it being fixed, the camera in the Honor Robot Phone is a movable one. It is connected to the phone with a stem that behaves like a gimbal and can follow a subject when taking videos and have AI image recogtnition. It will be able to like smart glasses, behave as an eye within the phone to interpret the environment.

The phone was first announced in October 2025. What was shown at CES is still not a finished product with people not allowed to use it and the movable camera itself not automated. But in March, the company plans to show a working prototype, and begin production this year. Could this be the future of the mobile phone? It is too early to say, but phone companies need to offer more to stay competitive as wearables start doing much of what phones do. And a camera with a life of its own ensconced within the mobile fits into the kind of reimagining that users might take to. And the first one of the lot might be clunky, but given demand, it might soon lead to the mobile itself being a collection of parts that have more to offer.