Smartphone maker Honor joins robotics race after pledging US…

Chinese smartphone maker Honor has joined the country’s heated race to develop robots, as it aims to reposition itself as an artificial intelligence (AI) player amid heightened competition in the Android handset market.

Honor said on Wednesday that it would develop its own robots, and that it had already helped Chinese start-up Unitree Robotics break the record for running speed by a humanoid robot.

The Shenzhen-based firm, a spin-off from telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, said that its robotics efforts would include working with partners “to enable more possibilities”.

Honor’s intended foray into China’s crowded robotics space comes after its newly appointed CEO James Li Jian announced a high-profile AI initiative earlier this year that he called the “Honor Alpha plan”.

The plan will see the firm invest US$10 billion over the next five years to transform itself from a smartphone maker into “an ecosystem company” focused on AI devices, Li said ahead of the MWC Barcelona trade show in Spain in March.

Honor used its proprietary AI algorithm to train a robot from Chinese start-up Unitree. The machine achieved a peak running speed of 4-metres per second, breaking the record for humanoid robots, the company said on Wednesday at a launch event in Shenzhen for its new Honor 400 series handsets.

In April, Honor set up a “new industry incubation department” to support its venture into new industries, including robots and AI agents, the company said.

Honor – founded under Huawei in 2013 and sold to a consortium of buyers in 2020, following US sanctions on Huawei – has lost ground in China’s fiercely competitive smartphone market, as domestic rivals including Huawei and Xiaomi see strong growth.

Honor’s first quarter smartphone sales in China plunged 12.8 per cent year on year, with its share shrinking from 16.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2024 to 13.7 per cent this year, according to a Counterpoint report last week.

In contrast, Huawei’s smartphone sales surged 28.5 per cent year on year, making it the largest brand in China in the first quarter, while Xiaomi’s handset sales increased 16.5 per cent, putting it in the No 3 spot, Counterpoint said.

Honor, however, has made headway in Europe. The company saw its first-quarter smartphone shipments on the continent jump 20 per cent from the same period last year, on the back of the company’s “continued aggressive strategy in Europe and a wide portfolio of impressive devices covering all price points”, Counterpoint wrote in a report published earlier this week.