On September 30, the latest information from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's government service platform showed that multiple agent phones have obtained telecommunications equipment network access licenses, including the Honor Magic9 series and STEPX Neo, the first large-model-native agent phone from Jieyue Terminal. Previously, the Nubia NaviX Ultra equipped with the Doubao phone assistant obtained its network access license on September 1 and officially went on sale on September 16.

Multiple agent phones completing network access and entering the market in succession means that this product form, which had previously remained mainly in launch events and technology demonstrations, is truly entering the phone market.

Unlike adding AI Q&A, image generation, and other features to phones in the past, agent phones are attempting to change the way users interact with their phones: the user proposes a task, the Agent understands the need, calls system capabilities and third-party applications, and continuously completes the operation.

Honor is exploring this direction through the system-level Agent Harness of MagicOS 11, while Jieyue Terminal is building an agent-native phone from the large model and operating system to the hardware; Doubao is trying to let AI directly operate third-party applications through the phone assistant.

Overseas markets are also advancing along similar lines, and Samsung has already made Agentic AI an important direction for phone AI.

If the Agent truly becomes a new entry point for phone interaction, the impact will not be limited to phone manufacturers. In the past, users needed to open apps one by one to complete tasks such as shopping, hailing rides, and ordering food. In the future, these apps may increasingly become "tools" called by the Agent.

This means that what large-model manufacturers compete for will not only be model capabilities, but also the phone, the entry point closest to users; and what phone manufacturers need to compete on will no longer be just chips, imaging, and screens, but the operating system's ability to schedule and execute the Agent.

However, from "can demonstrate" to "can be used long term," there is still a gap. For the Agent, being able to complete one complex operation does not mean being able to stably complete tasks across different apps and real-world scenarios.

The phone market itself is also under pressure. IDC data shows that in the first half of 2026, China's smartphone shipments were about 134 million units, a year-on-year decline of 4.2%. Against the backdrop of an extended replacement cycle, phone manufacturers need new product selling points, but whether AI can truly become a reason for consumers to replace their phones still needs market verification.