Honor robot win signals phone suppliers' pivot to humanoids

Chinese smartphone suppliers are moving into humanoid robotics as handset shipments slow, with Honor, a Chinese smartphone brand, highlighting the shift after its D1 robot won a recent half-marathon in Beijing ahead of rivals including Unitree.

Honor entered humanoid robotics in 2025, and engineer Yao Bin said the robot used smartphone cooling technology to keep its motor cool during the 21km race.

Suppliers including Lingyi iTech, Lens Technology, and AAC Technologies provided structural components, underscoring how China’s electronics supply chain is shifting toward robotics.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

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Implications, context, and why it matters.

These suppliers are large electronics makers moving into robotics

The companies here are big electronics manufacturers making a planned push into robotics.
Lingyi iTech had S$8.91 billion (US$6.98 billion) in trailing-12-month revenue. Lens Technology recorded 74.4 billion yuan, or US$10.90 billion, in 2025 1, 2.
AAC Technologies brought in 31.8 billion yuan (US$4.66 billion) in 2025 revenue. It names robotics, automotive, and XR, or extended reality, as growth areas 3.
Robotics is already adding sales. AAC said its finger actuators, the parts that move robotic fingers, reached mass production in 2025 and generated about 100 million yuan (US$14.6 million) 3.

China uses its electronics supply chain to grow robotics while software reliance remains

Government policy backs this shift. The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) draft includes robotics and embodied AI, which means AI built into physical machines such as robots, along with large state investment tools 4, 5.
That support helps manufacturers tap China’s production base, build robot hardware faster, and cut costs 6.
Unitree sells its G1 humanoid robot for about 11,650 euros (US$14,000). Tesla’s Optimus is priced near 25,800 euros (US$30,000) 4.
The weak spot is software. Many Chinese humanoid robot startups use Nvidia’s Orin chips plus Nvidia software tools for control systems, which leaves them dependent on foreign technology 6.