en.Wedoany.com Reported - Chinese smartphone brand nubia officially launched its new flagship model, the NaviX Ultra, on July 17, 2026, positioning it as the world's first smartphone built around an AI Agent core architecture. The model has already been awarded the SAIL 2026 (Super AI Leader) prize at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC). Nubia has not yet announced the specific price or release date for this model, with full technical specifications to be disclosed in the near future.
The nubia brand was established on October 31, 2012, with its headquarters located in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. It is a high-end smartphone brand under Nubia Technology Co., Ltd., co-founded by Ni Fei, Li Qiang, and others. The company integrates independent research and development, production, and sales, dedicated to creating personalized and differentiated mobile intelligent terminal products for users. Nubia Technology Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of ZTE Corporation, with ZTE holding a 78.33% stake. The company owns two core brands: nubia, positioned in the high-end smartphone market, and RedMagic, focused on professional gaming equipment.
According to nubia's official introduction, the NaviX Ultra is the first smartphone to operate with an AI Agent as its core logic, with its entire architecture and software ecosystem built around the built-in AI assistant "Doubao." The core design philosophy of this model is to deeply integrate artificial intelligence into the daily functions of the operating system, achieving an architectural upgrade from traditional "AI feature integration" to "AI Agent dominance." This marks a new phase for smartphones, transitioning from the stage of incorporating AI applications to one where the AI Agent serves as the core interaction and decision-making hub of the system.
In terms of design language, the NaviX Ultra features a unique horizontal matrix camera module design, equipped with three rear main cameras, with a visual effect similar to Google's Pixel series phones. Upon launch, the model will be available in four color options: Blue Horizon, Black, Dreamscape, and White.
The year 2026 is seen as a critical year for AI smartphones moving from concept to mass production. Previously, in December 2025, nubia collaborated with ByteDance's Doubao team to release an engineering prototype of an AI phone. Before the launch of the NaviX Ultra, StepFun had already released the world's first large model-native intelligent agent phone, the STEPX Neo, on July 13, 2026. The release of the NaviX Ultra by nubia marks the official start of competition in the AI agent smartphone arena.
