Honor's robot shows off its "moonwalk" at MWC, Xiaomi's robot starts working in the car factory, XPeng upgrades its autonomous driving technology, BYD introduces disruptive technology. Who will go further?
In today's technology industry, cross - border operations are no longer rare; in fact, they are an inevitable choice.
From early - stage TV, mobile phones, group - buying, e - commerce, and social media to finance, which any business with users and traffic can engage in.
In 2026, the hottest cross - border area will surely be "robots".
After Unitree Technology became famous overnight at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala, the robot market has been booming. In 2025, Unitree Technology, Zhipu Robotics, Ubtech, and Songyan Power all had good sales and became the main players in the global market.
Capitalizing on the trend, CCTV invited four robot companies, Unitree Technology, Songyan Power, Magic Atom, and Dreame, to participate in the 2026 Spring Festival Gala. Robots were used in martial arts performances, skits, and singing and dancing shows, further boosting the popularity of the robot market.
Not only are robot companies in fierce competition, but business tycoons in various industries who are good at handling business, capital, and "traffic" are also not idle. Previously, an article was written to sort out how tycoons from different industries are making cross - border forays into the robot field (Are Lei Jun, He Xiaopeng, Zhang Yiming, and Jia Yueting all getting involved in AI robots? Can Wang Xing and Unitree Technology maintain their moats?).
Yi Fanghan predicts that more companies in the mobile phone, automobile, and Internet sectors will join the fray in the robot market. When Zhou Hongyi and Dong Mingzhu also start to get involved in robots, you'll realize that you too can make "robots"; all you lack is a trip to Shenzhen and enough money to rent a production line in Dongguan.
Actually, large AI models are now very mature, and the robot industry chain is also well - developed. As long as you have capital, a brand, traffic, and channels, it's not difficult to create a robot under your own brand.
Of course, there are still high thresholds for creating a robot under your own brand. Full - stack self - development is the best approach and claim. This is theoretically feasible, but in reality, that's why few ordinary people are involved.
Next, let's take a peek at the future of the tech circle through four events:
Event 1: Honor Launches a Humanoid Robot and Usher in the "Robot Era" for Mobile Phones
Anyway, after Lei Jun, He Xiaopeng, Jia Yueting, and Zhang Yiming entered the arena, Honor was also active.
On March 2nd, at the 2026 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Honor launched its humanoid robot and advanced its mobile phones into the "robot era".
Honor's first embodied intelligent humanoid robot marks Honor as the world's first mobile phone company to enter the consumer - market humanoid robot segment. In addition to sharing user data, Honor will achieve the sharing of intelligent services and AI ecosystem synergy between mobile phones and robots, opening a new era of "human - machine - environment" symbiosis, extending intelligent services from "fingertips" to "the immediate vicinity".
The Robot Phone developed by Honor combines two core AI capabilities: embodied intelligent interaction and flagship imaging. It is equipped with a micro - motor and a "four - degree - of - freedom" gimbal system. By integrating the flexible "body" of the robot with the "brain" of Honor's AI agent, it presents a multi - modal interaction ability full of vitality. With a three - axis mechanical anti - shake gimbal camera and a 200 - million - pixel sensor, it has achieved breakthroughs in stability, following, and camera movement, bringing an ultimate embodied intelligent imaging experience and creating a new form of the next - generation AI terminal full of vitality.
Honor's robot stepped onto the stage steadily and started dancing. Its smooth "moonwalk" brought cheers from the audience.
Li Jian, CEO of Honor, pointed out, "A mobile phone shouldn't just be a 'boring black square' with a touchscreen. We decided to give it a brain and limbs, thus bringing a bold, avant - garde, and exploratory product design like the Robot Phone."
In addition, Honor also released its latest folding - screen flagship, the Magic V6. This phone uses the new - generation silicon - carbon battery technology, packing a 7000 + mAh battery, the largest in the history of folding - screen phones, into the thinnest body in the industry. The Magic V6 is equipped with the fifth - generation Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition full - blooded chip, deeply integrating the large screen with the AI operating system. It has PC - level performance scheduling technology and uses a periscope - shaped lens design, achieving the most powerful telephoto imaging system among folding - screen phones.
Event 2: Xiaomi's Robots Have "Formally Started Working" in the Automobile Factory
The news of Honor's robot launch on March 1st might have caught Lei Jun off - guard, prompting him to announce the news of Xiaomi's robot on the spur of the moment.
Although Lei Jun had already shown off the humanoid robot, when robots really became popular, he still had to emphasize his position in the industry.
Compared with many current manufacturers that only make robots dance or imitate human actions, Xiaomi has smartly applied its robots in the production scenarios of automobile manufacturing.
Xiaomi officially stated that through the Xiaomi - Robotics - 0 robot's VLA base model combined with reinforcement learning technology, Xiaomi's humanoid robot has achieved autonomous operations in scenarios such as self - tapping nut installation. The deployment and verification work of more classic workstations is still in progress.
Lei Jun said that Xiaomi will continue to contribute to the large - scale application of general humanoid robots in intelligent manufacturing. Lei Jun predicts that a large number of humanoid robots will enter Xiaomi's factories to work in the next five years.
Event 3: XPeng's Second - Generation VLA for Full - Self - Driving to Be Pushed This Month
On March 2nd, He Xiaopeng, the chairman and CEO of XPeng Motors, announced that XPeng's second - generation VLA (Vision - Language - Action model) will be pushed this month. He Xiaopeng said, "XPeng's second - generation VLA is the first version for full - self - driving. It will iterate at a speed never seen before at XPeng. Full - self - driving will fully arrive in the next 1 - 3 years, and self - driving will truly become people's daily travel habit."
XPeng Motors said that currently, the Robotaxi equipped with XPeng's second - generation VLA has started public road tests, and XPeng's Robotaxi will start trial operations this year. In terms of global deployment, XPeng's second - generation VLA is about to start global road tests and is planned to start global deliveries in 2027. In addition, Volkswagen will be the first customer for XPeng's second - generation VLA.
Event 4: BYD Announces a Disruptive Technology Launch on March 5th
BYD officially confirmed that it will hold a "Disruptive Technology Launch Conference" on March 5th, 2026. BYD also disclosed on the interactive platform that there is an exclusive ticket - grabbing channel for the offline launch conference on the WeChat mini - program "BYD Shareholder Planet". Shareholders are welcome to sign up.
Industry insiders analyze that the disruptive technology BYD mentioned may involve battery and energy - replenishment technology, hybrid technology, or the field of intelligent driving.
The market has high expectations for BYD's disruptive technology, and BYD's A - share market value soared by 8%.
Yi Fanghan boldly predicts that BYD may also launch a self - developed large model based on new - energy vehicles or even a brand - new robot product.
As March begins, major automobile manufacturers have successively announced their February car sales. Let's wait and make a detailed inventory of the sales in January and February.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Yi Fanghan", written by Yi Fanghan, and is published by 36Kr with permission.