Spanish player takes photos with 'robot phone'

In images and videos shared on Twitter, Reddit and some Chinese social networks, Spanish defender Eric García holds a smartphone with a camera protruding from the body to record the moments when he and his teammates celebrate the 2026 World Cup championship. He walks around his teammates and some fans on the field, occasionally making video calls.

On social networks, many people quickly recognized this as Honor's Robot Phone. The phone model was revealed by Chinese company Honor last year and is expected to be sold next month for the first time in the domestic market.

In China, the appearance of Robot Phone in the hands of the 2026 World Cup champion immediately received great attention. Many social network users feel proud when a domestic smartphone brand appears at the largest football festival on the planet. "I'm used to seeing Western players using iPhones or Samsung phones. It's great that the World Cup champion is using a unique smartphone from China," commented a Weibo account named JiaoJiao.

"Twitter about the performance of Chinese technology brands at the World Cup, Honor is having the biggest victory after the final," Sohu commented. "After all, not only domestic but also international netizens recognize this 'robot phone'."

Before the final match, CCTV News also reported on Robot Phone with the headline "Chinese 'young players' bravely enter the World Cup", citing interviews from fans who gave this smartphone the nickname "dancing robot phone". In pre-match commentary, the station's commentators also used Robot Phone's integrated AI function to predict the champion. Smartphone correctly predicted that Spain would win, but was wrong about the score.

Robot Phone was first revealed by Honor in October 2025. The attention-grabbing point on this smartphone is the large camera cluster, divided into two parts. From this cluster, a robotic arm reaches out, flipping the main camera into a selfie lens. It can also rotate to capture from multiple positions and angles. This idea is more flexible than the Asus Zenfone 6 model launched in 2019 with the ability to flip the rear camera to take selfies.

Earlier this year, at the MWC 2026 mobile exhibition in Barcelona (Spain), Honor said that the main camera of the Robot Phone is equipped with a 200 megapixel sensor and the company developed its own micro motor to control arm movements. The camera allows for smoother video calls and can track when users move thanks to AI-based object tracking technology. The company uses some of the techniques used in folding phones to make the camera more sturdy, and integrates a 4-degree-of-freedom gimbal system into the device. The material of the robot arm is the same as the hinge of the Magic V6 folding phone, reaching a tensile strength of 2800 MPa.

Honor planned to sell Robot Phone in January, but then continuously moved the timeline, most recently in August. The company has started allowing users to make pre-deposits in China, but the delivery date is unknown. The company also has no plans to sell the device in international markets.

According to Cnet, over the years, the technology world has often complained about the boredom in smartphone design, when most products are in similar bar form. Folding phones somewhat bring a breath of fresh air, while Robot Phone is highly appreciated for its boldness, meeting the needs of content creators. However, the product may not be the choice of the majority of users.