Nubia NaviX Ultra Launches in China With ByteDance Doubao AI Agent

Nubia’s second swing at a ByteDance-powered “AI agent phone” is live. On September 16, 2026, Gizmochina reported the China launch of the NaviX Ultra—follow-up to last December’s M153 “beanbag” phone that sold out fast, then ran into third-party app limits on Doubao actions.

Pricing and configs

Three SKUs at launch: 12GB + 512GB for 5,999 yuan (~$840), 16GB + 512GB for 6,499 yuan (~$910), and 16GB + 1TB for 7,499 yuan (~$1,050). China-only for now.

The orange AI button

Hardware identity centers on a dedicated orange-accented AI control that doubles as a fingerprint sensor—Nubia calls the combo an industry first. It supports wake-on-voice, dialect recognition (Nubia cites Cantonese and Minnan among 10+ dialects), and a full-duplex Seed voice model so you can interrupt mid-response. Placement was moved for one-handed reach. Vendor claims include a 48% higher wake-up rate in noisy environments and 21% better sentence recognition—attribute those as Nubia lab figures, not independent lab tests.

Doubao as the agent layer

NaviX Ultra runs ByteDance’s consumer Doubao Mobile Assistant, pitched for multi-step, cross-app handoffs from one spoken sentence. Nubia highlights updates to interaction, personal memory, task execution, and privacy controls versus the December technical preview. Screen/camera understanding, shopping deep-links, scripted call handling, notification sorting, and integrations with services like Cao Cao Mobility and Lark (ride booking, notes, meeting transcription search) round out the demo reel.

Specs that still matter

Under the AI marketing: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, 6.78-inch LTPO 2.0 (1–144Hz, up to 4,500 nits peak), cameras 200MP main / 50MP ultrawide / 64MP periscope, 7,100mm² vapor chamber, and a 7,100mAh battery in a 7.62mm chassis with 90W wired / 50W wireless charging. Nubia also says the device completed Chinese regulator registration for its intelligent-agent large model.

Rocks take

Interesting if you care about agent UX more than another camera scorecard—and if Chinese app partners cooperate this time. Outside China, treat it as a signal for how OEMs will ship assistant-first hardware. Source: Gizmochina.

FAQ

Is it global? Launch coverage is China-focused.

What chip? Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.