Smartphone makers eye robotics as second growth curve

Two snapshots show a shift: Xiaomi’s Cyber-One is learning factory work, while Honor’s humanoid is training for a Beijing half marathon. Together they point to a new direction for Chinese smartphone makers.

This move is not only about AI buzz. The handset market is maturing: margins are tightening, components cost more, and breakthrough features are rarer. Companies are hunting for a second growth curve to keep revenues rising.

Honor is betting on consumer robotics—companionship, retail assistance, and home interaction. Its playbook emphasizes fast iteration and early validation. A public half marathon appearance provides visibility and signals progress toward real-world use.

Xiaomi’s path is industrial. It is pushing humanoids into factories, where reliability must approach perfection for automation to pay off. That is why it focuses on the dexterity of hands and on per‑task success rates.

Huawei is building an embodied AI platform integrating multiple models and testing robots in financial service environments. Vivo has launched a robotics lab aimed at home scenarios. Smartphone makers bring strengths in hardware integration, supply chains, chip design, power optimization, and on‑device AI. In this view, a humanoid is the next form factor—mobility plus physical interaction. As robots step in as intermediaries between people, cars, and homes, users shift from operators to recipients of services. Yet costs are still high and many deployments are pilots, so the race is only beginning.

On Xiaomi’s factory floor, the Cyber‑One humanoid practices real tasks; elsewhere, Honor’s humanoid prepares for a Beijing half marathon. The juxtaposition captures an industry pivot among Chinese smartphone brands.

What looks like another wave of AI hype is, underneath, a financial and structural recalibration. Handsets are a maturing business: margins are tighter, components pricier, and genuine breakthroughs rarer. Leadership teams now need a second growth curve.

Honor is pursuing consumer robotics—companionship, retail assistance, and home interaction—using rapid iteration and early market validation. A public half marathon run delivers visibility and a proof point on robustness outside the lab.

Xiaomi is making the industrial bet. Factory deployment demands near‑perfect reliability, because automation yields measurable returns only when failure rates are negligible. Hence the fixation on hand dexterity and per‑task success metrics.

Huawei is assembling an embodied AI platform that integrates multiple models and is trialing robots in financial service contexts, while Vivo has set up a robotics lab oriented to home use. Smartphone makers already excel at hardware integration, global supply chains, chip design, power optimization, and on‑device AI. In this framing, a humanoid is the next form factor—mobility plus physical interaction.

The long‑touted “human–car–home” triangle is evolving. Robots can serve as intermediaries, traversing spaces, coordinating with appliances and vehicles, and executing tasks so users become recipients of services rather than active controllers. Costs remain high, deployments are mostly pilots, and home use cases are still forming—but the pace is unmistakable, and the race has only begun.