At Honor's recent 400 series product launch, CEO Li Jian shared compelling stories about his team's robotics development efforts, officially announcing Honor's entry into the robotics sector. During the presentation, Li demonstrated a robot capable of reaching running speeds of 4 meters per second—a performance that shattered existing industry records.

source: Honor

This announcement comes on the heels of Honor's recent commitment to invest $10 billion over the next five years in building a global AI terminal ecosystem, marking its strategic pivot from smartphone manufacturer to comprehensive AI terminal ecosystem company. This ambitious roadmap not only underscores Honor's aspirations in the smart terminal space but also sets the stage for its broader diversification strategy.

Honor's foray into robotics has been years in the making. Back in 2018, according to posts from Cheetah Mobile—a pioneer among Chinese internet companies expanding overseas—Honor's flagship Magic 2 smartphone could control robots to brew Cheetah Coffee, a robotic product built on Cheetah Mobile's Orion robotic arm platform.

Last November, when questioned about Honor's potential expansion into automotive, smart glasses, and robotics sectors, company executives indicated that all these areas were under active consideration, with decisions primarily contingent on business model viability and market maturity. They noted that significant opportunities remained unexplored within their core competencies.

The company's commitment became more concrete in December of that year, when Honor's wholly-owned subsidiary, Xingyao Terminal, established four new subsidiaries with business scopes encompassing mobile terminal device sales, wearable smart device sales, intelligent robot sales, and smart drone sales.

This March, Honor's recruitment platform revealed that its New Industry Incubation Division houses multiple specialized laboratories, including an Embodied Intelligence Lab, Interactive Security Lab, Embodied Data Lab, Powertrain Lab, and Bionic Ontology Research Lab. The company actively recruited robotics data generation algorithm engineers, motion planning and control engineers, and integrated joint designers.

Honor's move reflects a broader industry trend toward robotics integration. Huawei formalized a comprehensive partnership agreement with UBTech this May, building on previous investments through its Hubble subsidiary in companies like Qianxun Intelligence. Last November, Huawei launched its Global Embodied Intelligence Industry Innovation Center in Shenzhen, simultaneously signing cooperation memoranda with 16 companies spanning the entire supply chain, including LimX Dynamics, Zhaowei Electromechanical, Mobvoi, Topstar, and Variational AI.

Vivo announced the establishment of its Robotics Lab this March, targeting the domestic robotics market. The company plans to leverage its artificial intelligence and imaging technology advantages, focusing on developing core technologies for robotic "brains" and "eyes."

Xiaomi has systematically advanced its robotics portfolio with successive launches of its first-generation biomimetic quadruped robot CyberDog "Tie Dan," its second-generation iteration, and the humanoid "Tie Da" CyberOne. The company has further solidified its robotics commitment through establishing dedicated robotics subsidiaries and investing in China's first provincial-level humanoid robotics innovation center.

While OPPO hasn't explicitly announced humanoid robotics ambitions, the company demonstrated its exploratory interest by releasing the Xiao Bu household robot and third-generation quadruped robot QRIC in 2022.

Samsung's robotics heritage runs deepest, having showcased the running-capable humanoid robot Roboray as early as 2012. This January, Samsung invested 267 billion Korean won to increase its stake in Rainbow Robotics to 35%, accelerating its advanced intelligent robotics development trajectory.

Apple, following its decision to abandon its electric vehicle project, has pivoted toward personal robotics technology, positioning household robots as its next major initiative in pursuit of market leadership in the robotics space.

As more technology companies enter the robotics arena, innovation will accelerate and competition will intensify. From household services to industrial production, from healthcare to scientific research, robotic applications will continue expanding, fundamentally reshaping how we live and work. The competitive dynamics among these technology giants in robotics—and their collective impact on industry evolution—promises to be a fascinating development worth watching.