Humanoid Robot Sales Hit 36,000 in H1 as Embodied Models Drive 83% of Revenue

Humanoid robot sales are surging, but the revenue actually sustaining the industry comes from a narrow group of high-intelligence, high-priced models. On September 28, Frost & Sullivan released its "2026 Global Humanoid Robot Market Research Report."

The report shows 2025 global sales of 35,000 units and $500 million in revenue; in the first half of 2026, sales reached 36,000 units and $540 million, exceeding all of 2025 within six months. The industry is shifting from technology validation and small-batch delivery toward volume production and commercialization.

Sales and revenue structures are starkly inverted, with revenue concentrating in a handful of high-intelligence, high-priced models. By autonomy level, embodied-intelligence humanoids sold 8,800 units in 2025 — about a quarter of the total — yet generated $375 million, or 75% of revenue; pre-programmed and other products sold 26,200 units for just $125 million. In H1 2026 the gap widened further, with embodied-intelligence revenue rising to $448 million, or 83%.

By size, the inversion is equally clear. Full-size humanoids sold 7,500 units in 2025 — about 20% of volume — for $375 million, or 75% of revenue, while small-size products, nearly 60% of units, brought in only $25 million. Full-size models kept above 75% of revenue in H1 2026.

Application scenarios diverge sharply. Entertainment and performance is the largest by volume: 20,600 units and $192 million in H1 2026, both above all of 2025. Data collection was roughly flat. Research and education weakened, recording $140 million and 11,600 units in H1, below full-year 2025 levels.

Production operations is the smallest segment but the fastest growing: 1,200 units and $78 million in H1 2026, up 65.9% from $47 million in all of 2025. The report argues this segment maps directly to task success rates, unit operating costs, equipment utilization and payback periods, making its value conversion the most direct; demand is moving from pilot validation to paid deployment.

The report divides commercialization maturity into five stages: technology showcase, customer pilot, paid deployment, routine operation and scaled replication.

Chinese vendors swept the global top five. All five leading vendors by 2025 revenue were Chinese, together holding more than 50% of the market. UBTECH ranked first with RMB 870 million and a 24.8% share; Unitree matched both figures; Zhiyuan Robotics, Leju Robotics and Galbot followed.

In H1 2026, the top five remained Chinese but the order shifted. UBTECH held first place with RMB 620 million and a 16.5% share, with Zhiyuan close behind at 16.1% — a gap narrowed to 0.4 percentage points. Overseas players tell a different story: Tesla Optimus, Figure AI and Agility have accumulated expertise in hardware and basic embodied algorithms, but remain largely in prototype iteration and lab-scale pilots, mostly for internal use, without scaled third-party revenue.

UBTECH leads both tracks. In 2025 it ranked first worldwide in the overall humanoid robot market and the full-size embodied-intelligence track, the latter with RMB 820 million in revenue and a 45.1% share; it remained first in both in H1 2026.

Still, the market is expanding faster than the leader can deliver. UBTECH's overall share fell from 24.8% to 16.5% in H1 2026, and its full-size embodied-intelligence share dropped from 45.1% to 26.0%. The dual-track lead remains, but the margin is being compressed. Whether production operations can move from paid deployment to routine operation and scaled replication will determine whether a minority of models can turn revenue advantage into a long-term competitive moat.