Preface:

The smartphone industry has hit a plateau, prompting manufacturers to explore new avenues for growth and higher valuation.

Author | Fang Wensan

Image Source | Network

vivo Officially Announces Entry into the Household Robot Market

During the 2025 Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, vivo announced on March 25 the establishment of the [vivo Robot Lab], marking its formal entry into the robot industry.

vivo aims to focus on the consumer market, dedicated to launching robot products tailored for personal and household environments.

Its specific development strategy leverages the company's deep expertise in AI large models and imaging technology, combined with the real-time spatial computing capabilities of its self-developed MR headset, to develop the robot's core processing unit and visual perception system.

vivo has clarified that it will establish clear business boundaries, focusing on its strengths and the consumer market closer to ordinary users, while avoiding industrial robots.

It will also concentrate on the robot's core processing unit and visual perception system, steering clear of robotic arms, dexterous hands, and legs and torso, areas where many startups are currently competing.

vivo is not entering this potentially huge market as a competitor but as an ecosystem builder.

In the field of household robots, vivo has opted not to produce full-body hardware but to focus on the two core components: the [brain] and the [eyes].

In this market environment, the exploration and breakthroughs of Chinese brands like vivo in the downstream application market are expected to drive the localization of robot core components.

vivo plans to develop a prototype within the next three to five years, achieving a complete user experience loop.

In the longer term, vivo intends to launch commercial household robot products.

Leveraging vivo's Competitive Advantages

Relying on AI algorithms (such as the Blue Heart large model), imaging spatial perception technology (like MR vision), and a deep understanding of user needs accumulated in its mobile phone business, vivo has mastered the core [brain + perception] technology in the robot field.

Through the vast data and application scenario experience accumulated in the mobile phone ecosystem, these capabilities can quickly adapt to the needs of a new generation of robot products.

vivo also boasts two unique competitive advantages: its long-standing involvement in mobile imaging, having built a leading visual perception system in the industry, which serves as the core technological foundation for robot intelligence.

In mobile imaging technology research and development, vivo has independently developed optical hardware such as VCS biomimetic spectral technology, micro-gimbal stabilization, and super-large sensors, enabling high-precision visual capture and assisting robots in precise and efficient environmental perception.

Combined with technologies such as night scene noise reduction, motion stabilization (EIS), and HDR, vivo's solutions can efficiently and stably process visual information in complex environments.

On the other hand, vivo's AI-driven visual perception technology can be upgraded to the level of real-time visual understanding.

By integrating image recognition algorithms with multimodal large models, vivo endows robots with the ability to understand the environment, human intentions, and task instructions in real-time.

Moreover, based on 3D vision, SLAM spatial computing, and other technologies already applied in mobile digital imaging and mixed reality headset development, vivo can rapidly build robots' spatial perception and environmental modeling capabilities, enabling precise positioning, navigation, and obstacle avoidance, as well as constructing stereoscopic perception and spatial interaction capabilities for AI models.

Given the limitations of device-side computing power, one of the core challenges for future AI applications, such as robots, lies in integrating edge and cloud computing and ensuring efficient data interoperability.

As a mobile phone manufacturer, vivo has an absolute advantage in building device interconnectivity.

Technologies such as the 2025 Vision Image Processing Chip and heterogeneous computing architecture can provide support in the robot's image information processing link.

Currently, the latest Vision Image Processing Chip V3+ has achieved millisecond-level data collaboration with the CPU, improving performance by 35% with an 80% reduction in power consumption.

With continuous advancements and upgrades in chip technology, it is expected to further reduce household robots' energy consumption during environmental recognition and enhance information processing efficiency in the future.

The strategy of [emphasizing intelligence while underestimating hardware] helps vivo avoid the [cost dilemma] faced by robot hardware, allowing it to focus more on research, development, and investment in intelligent cores and perception technology.

By deeply exploring user needs and pain points and achieving breakthroughs in key technological areas, vivo aims to ultimately achieve large-scale production of its products.

From this perspective, the value provided by vivo's smartphone and robot businesses in the future is highly similar: both represent continuous expansions of intelligent terminals in the physical world, with smartphones carrying individual users' habits and preferences, and personal and household robots assisting in completing more complex tasks, driving progress in the physical world.

Smartphones in Stock Competition, Manufacturers Seeking Second Growth Curve

According to an IDC report, global smartphone shipments reached 1.24 billion units in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 6.4%. However, IDC predicts this growth rate will slow down in 2025.

In stark contrast to the slow growth of the mobile phone market, the robot industry, particularly humanoid robots, is undergoing a profound transformation.

A Goldman Sachs report predicts that global shipments of humanoid robots will reach 1.4 million units by 2035, with a market size of approximately $38 billion.

This shift in industrial momentum prompts leading smartphone manufacturers to view robots as their [second growth curve].

The robot market, especially the consumer robot market, is considered to have huge potential.

According to QYR statistics and forecasts, global consumer robot market sales reached $41.02 billion in 2024 and are expected to reach $170.48 billion by 2031, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.9% from 2025 to 2031.

Household robots are still in their early stages of development, but individual consumers' demand for intelligent companionship, health monitoring, and household assistance functions is gradually increasing.

Since their target users largely overlap with smartphone consumers, household robots are expected to become the next potential [intelligent terminal] products for smartphone manufacturers.

Smartphone manufacturers have accumulations in technologies such as AI computing, sensing technology, intelligent interaction, and operating systems, facilitating the intelligent development of robots.

Their industrial chain is mature in terms of chips, sensors, supply chain management, and mass production capabilities, which can reduce robot costs, improve efficiency, and accelerate market launch.

There is technological interoperability between the mobile phone and robot industries. Smartphone manufacturers have long-term accumulations in intelligent capabilities such as operating systems, AI technology, chip research and development, and visual imaging, enabling them to quickly enter new racetracks.

Most Smartphone Manufacturers Already Participating in the Robot Race

In 2009, Huawei's 2012 Lab and Central Research Institute had already initiated research and development on industrial robots and control systems, and in 2022, they collaborated with CloudMinds Technology to jointly enter the field of humanoid robots.

In the household domain, Huawei, together with China Mobile and LEJU Robotics, jointly launched the humanoid robot [Kuafu] equipped with 5G-A technology.

In the industrial domain, Huawei provides industrial robot products to Topstar and develops embedded control solutions based on domestic operating systems.

In 2024, [Africa's smartphone king] Transsion released the AI-enhanced quadruped robot TecnoDynamic1 at MWC 2024, suitable for various application scenarios such as entertainment, assistance, education, and training, positioning it as the [perfect pet companion of the future].

In February 2025, Apple was reported to be secretly developing a robot product matrix suitable for the future smart home ecosystem, covering both humanoid and non-humanoid technical routes. The related projects are currently in the critical stage of concept validation.

Although Honor has not yet officially announced its entry into the robot field, there are rumors to that effect.

Recently, Shenzhen Xingyao Terminal Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honor, has established new companies in multiple locations such as Taiyuan, Kunming, Nanjing, Chengdu, Guiyang, Wuhan, and Fuzhou. The business scope of these companies includes smart robot sales.

Conclusion:

According to Canalys statistics, vivo leaped to the forefront of smartphone shipments in the Chinese mainland market with a 17% market share in 2024. However, vivo's leading position is not secure.

Huawei, which follows closely behind, has a market share of 16%, just 1% lower than vivo's.

Furthermore, the market share gap between the third to fifth-ranked manufacturers is even less than 1%, and their gap with vivo is only 2 percentage points.

Under such a competitive situation, vivo may lose its top position if it is not cautious.

Moreover, as domestic smartphone brands enter the high-end market, shipments are no longer the sole indicator of a smartphone brand's market position.

Even so, with its main business facing considerable pressure, vivo still chooses to venture into new business areas with high technical thresholds, which will undoubtedly consume significant funds and energy.

Both AI and robot technology are areas where commercialization is difficult to achieve in the short term.

If the development of new businesses does not meet expectations, it may not only affect the company's financial situation but also adversely impact its competitiveness in the smartphone market.

References: Jiemian News: "Official Announcement of Entering the Robot Industry, vivo Launches a Battle to Recruit Talent with Million-Dollar Salaries", Huashang Taolue: "Another New Battleground for Smartphone Giants: vivo Unveils Its Sword in the Household Robot Race", Jiqizhixin: "vivo, Maker of Smartphones, Enters the Robot Industry", Yiguancha: "Taking Advantage, Clarifying the Path, Optimizing Techniques: Decoding vivo's Strategy for Entering the Household Robot Market", Jinjiaocaijing: "Smartphone Giant Enters the Robot Market", Jidian Shangye: "China's Solution for Household Robots: vivo's Accumulations, Journey, and Opportunities", Leifeng Wang: "vivo Establishes Robot Lab: Not Chasing Trends, but Creating an Ecosystem", Lianxian Insight: "vivo Didn't Tell the Story of AI Phones, Now It's Drawing the [Pie] of Robots?", Beike Finance and Economics: "vivo, Huawei, and Others Compete in the New Robot Racetrack, Can They Strive for the [Second Growth Curve]?", Morgan Business Institute: "AI Phones Are Unstable, Why Is vivo Rushing to Tell a New Story About Robots?"