WAIC 2026 Puts Agentic Smartphones in Spotlight: Honor's Robot Phone and Doubao Assistant Lead as AI Terminals Shift from Tools to Partners

Seventy years ago, Norbert Wiener, the father of cybernetics, predicted in The Human Use of Human Beings that the core proposition of digital machines would be how humans and machines coexist. Seven decades later, at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2026), this enduring "human-machine question" is being answered in a completely new way by Chinese manufacturers. Honor, Nubia, Stepfun, and other companies have all revealed their trump cards, attempting to redefine the role of the mobile phone—no longer a passive tool that executes commands, but an "agent companion" capable of proactively understanding intent and autonomously executing tasks.

At this year's WAIC, the competitive focus on the terminal side has shifted from simply piling on AI features to restructuring the underlying logic of operating systems and hardware forms. Honor CEO Li Jian proposed on-site that the ultimate direction of technology is to infuse intelligence with warmth, fostering genuine partnership between humans and machines. To this end, Honor has elevated MagicOS into the industry's first companion-type multimodal agent operating system, Agentic OS, and launched the Robot Phone equipped with a 4DoF titanium alloy mechanical gimbal. Meanwhile, the "world's first Agent phone" NaviX Ultra—jointly launched by Nubia and ByteDance's Doubao—along with Stepfun's agent-native operating system Step AOS, are also attempting to break down application and service silos, giving phones genuine "hands" and "eyes."

Human-Computer Interaction Paradigm Shift: From "You Teach Me" to "I Understand You"

As AI gains stronger perception, reasoning, and decision-making capabilities, the traditional human-computer interaction model centered on multi-touch is becoming obsolete. At WAIC 2026, a clear trend emerged: the industry is shifting from "app-centric" to "task-centric" and "human-centric."

Honor's proposed solution is a new architecture of "one primary, multiple specialized; three-brain collaboration." Through a portable primary agent that coordinates with massive terminals, combined with a cloud-based super brain, device silos, service silos, and data silos are integrated into an actionable matrix. The core idea is that Agentic OS no longer requires users to break down their goals into steps the machine can understand; users simply express intent—such as "book me a flight"—and the system autonomously completes intent understanding, task decomposition, and closed-loop delivery. Li Jian emphasized that the key to this partnership lies in "leaving the final decision in human hands," with every proactive service requiring confidence adjudication and user authorization.

Similarly, the STEPX Neo phone exhibited by Stepfun at WAIC also positions the personal agent Amoo as the primary interaction gateway. Stepfun Chairman Yin Qi summarized this as moving from "process interaction" to "outcome interaction." Its Step AOS operating system elevates the agent to a system-level identity close to the user, uniformly scheduling CPU, GPU, and NPU resources, establishing cross-app semantic memory, and enabling the agent to autonomously plan and invoke third-party services such as Meituan, Ctrip, and Alipay.

Hardware Form Revolution: Phones Grow "Eyes" and a "Body"

If the restructuring of the operating system gives the agent a "soul," then changes in hardware form provide it with a "body" to interact with the physical world.

At Honor's booth, the Robot Phone completely abandoned the traditional rectangular glass slab design. It features the industry's smallest 4DoF titanium alloy mechanical gimbal system, with a camera that can extend from the body and rotate freely. This is not merely a cosmetic flourish but a fundamental change in interaction logic. When a user is working out, it can autonomously invoke the camera for tracking shots through agent-based analysis of master-level cinematography algorithms; during video calls, it can rotate like a human eye to track the user's position. Futurist Kevin Kelly remarked after an on-site experience that the Robot Phone delivered a sense of surprise akin to seeing the first-generation iPhone.

Nubia's NaviX Ultra took a different approach with its interaction entry point. The model adopts a minimalist design, featuring an independent orange physical AI shortcut key on the right side. As the mass-production carrier for the Doubao Phone Assistant, its emphasis has shifted from "AI can operate a phone" to "can it reliably complete tasks for users over the long term." Nubia President Ni Fei stated that this Agent phone is more focused on proactively completing tasks based on user needs, reducing the need for users to switch back and forth between different functions.

Real-World Challenges for Agent Deployment: Cross-App Collaboration and Privacy Security

Despite impressive demonstrations, ensuring agents "stumble less and actually get things done" in real-world environments remains a major test for manufacturers.

According to 36Kr's observations at WAIC, the industry has currently diverged into two main technical routes. One is the GUI approach represented by the Doubao Phone Assistant, which operates apps by capturing screenshots to understand the screen, visually recognizing buttons, and simulating clicks. The advantage of this method is that it works with any app, but the downside is that it can easily get lost when encountering splash ads, pop-ups, or interface changes, and it has previously sparked widespread industry discussion about data security.

The other route involves direct collaboration between agents through A2A or MCP standard interfaces. The integration between OPPO's Xiaobu and Alipay's Abao is a typical example. When a user makes requests such as buying tickets or ordering food, Xiaobu handles perception and task distribution, while Abao invokes nearly 200 services within Alipay to complete fulfillment, with account and payment information remaining within their respective trusted systems. It has been revealed that WeChat is also advancing similar collaborations with multiple phone manufacturers, allowing agents to complete tasks without entering users' chat lists.

On the privacy protection front, Honor has embedded a mechanism of "unified memory, distributed capabilities, and task migration" within Agentic OS. While breaking down device barriers, it insists that every proactive service undergo confidence adjudication. The importance of on-device models is thus highlighted—simple tasks are processed locally, while complex issues are handed off to the cloud, striking a balance between response speed and privacy security.

China's Ecosystem Fosters Cluster Innovation

Why are Chinese manufacturers the first to propose solutions for the new human-machine paradigm in the agent era? This is inseparable from China's complete industrial chain and rich application scenarios.

On one hand, China possesses the world's richest high-frequency production and lifestyle scenarios, providing a natural training ground for AI technology iteration. On the other hand, China has formed the world's most complete hardware industry chain and model productization capabilities, allowing cutting-edge AI concepts to be rapidly engineered and physicalized. Furthermore, based on a philosophy of "openness, co-creation, and sharing," Honor has partnered with Alibaba's "Qwen" large model to co-create a terminal large model solution deeply optimized for phone scenarios. This cluster-style innovation is enhancing the international competitiveness of Chinese-made intelligent terminals.

From an industry data perspective, the new narrative of AI phones has arrived at an opportune moment. IDC data shows that China's smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2026 fell 4.3% year-over-year, with the global market also facing historic declines. Under pressure from rising storage and component prices, consumers lack motivation to upgrade. The phone industry urgently needs to shift from "competing on specs" to "competing on experience," and Agent-based intelligence has perfectly picked up this baton.

As Honor CEO Li Jian stated, new agent species must possess fundamental life characteristics and clear self-awareness. When a phone is no longer a cold tool but a companion that can celebrate goals with you and proactively capture your sports highlights, Wiener's seven-decade-old human-machine question has finally found a warm "Chinese answer" on the stage of WAIC 2026.