UBTech says U1 deliveries have begun, but its own stores told reporters the first U1 Pro units are delayed

UBTech has taken more than 13,361 orders for its U1 companion humanoid and says deliveries in China began in September, but it has not said how many robots have shipped or who received them. In late September, customer service at UBTech's own Tmall and JD.com stores told Li Xianglei of Caiwen that the first U1 Pro units had been pushed to November 30, and told Yang Hui of Daily Economic News the robot had not yet been delivered. UBTech called those reports inaccurate, and in mid-October vice president Jiao Jichao told Zheng Kangxi of 21st Century Business Herald that U1 has reached customers "in small batches." UBTech did not respond to cobesa's request for comment.

The reported numbers point to a long wait for most buyers. At launch, UBTech's chief executive said the company aimed to deliver every order by year end, according to a column published by TMTPost. Chief financial officer Zhang Ju later put this year's deliveries at about 1,500 to 2,000 units, according to that column and Damo Finance, a figure that does not appear in UBTech's interim results. If both numbers hold, at least 85% of orders would roll into next year. Orders began as refundable CNY 3,000 deposits, so the order count is not a count of sales.

U1 is a companion robot, not a household helper. UBTech staff said it does no housework, according to a post on Phoenix New Media's Dafeng platform, and the full-body U1 Pro, listed at CNY 169,800, cannot walk on its own and runs 2 to 4 hours per charge, according to Rui Caijing, citing UBTech's website. UBTech's launch announcement puts the starting price at CNY 119,800.

What to watch

November 30, and a cheaper U1 model that Jiao said is planned for the fourth quarter.

Sources

Primary

• UBTECH, UBTECH Launches UWORLD U1, the World's First Full-Size Mass-Produced Ultra-Bionic Humanoid Robot, PR Newswire, June 30, 2026
• UBTECH Robotics Corp Ltd, Interim Results Announcement for the Six Months Ended June 30, 2026, HKEXnews, August 28, 2026

First-hand (named reporters)

• 21st Century Business Herald, Zheng Kangxi, 优必选U1机器人已小批量交付，四季度拟推"青春版" (UBTech's U1 delivered in small batches; cheaper model planned), October 14, 2026
• Daily Economic News, Yang Hui, 独家|仿生机器人交付延期？优必选回应：已经开始交付 (Delivery delayed? UBTech says deliveries have begun), September 28, 2026
• Caiwen, Li Xianglei, 独家｜官宣交付、客服称延期，优必选U1系列陷交付"罗生门"？ (Delivery announced, customer service says delayed), September 27, 2026

Secondary

• Damo Finance, via 36Kr, Contradictory Statements from UBTECH U1's Official Reps & Frontline Customer Service, September 29, 2026
• 市值榜 (Shizhibang), Qi Xiao, column published by TMTPost, 交付缩水八成，优必选给具身智能泼了一盆冷水 (Deliveries shrink by 80%), September 23, 2026
• Rui Caijing, Yan Minghui, 最高99万元的仿生机器人，续航仅2到4小时？优必选回应 (UBTech responds on runtime), July 8, 2026
• 深蓝财经, post on Phoenix New Media's Dafeng platform, launch coverage, June 30, 2026

Quotes from Chinese sources are cobesa's translations.

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