Honor unveils new smartphone with fold-out robotic camera arm

BEIJING — Chinese smartphone company Honor announced Wednesday that it is developing a smartphone with a camera that unfolds using a robotic arm.

The company said it plans to share more details at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona early next year.

The new device would be the latest Chinese consumer electronics product to shake up decades-old hardware design in a bid to incorporate AI. Earlier this year, Beijing-based Roborock began selling a robot vacuum cleaner with an arm that folds out from above and combines AI with sensors to detect obstructions for the arm to remove.

Honor calls the product a “robot phone” and said it will incorporate artificial intelligence, but did not provide specific details.

The company said it is rolling out AI tools that help its smartphone users browse Chinese e-commerce sites to find personalized shopping deals, quickly hail a taxi or get tips on how to better position the camera for a photo. The move is part of Honor’s plan to spend $10 billion over the next five years to transform itself into an AI device company.