STEPX Neo Debuts at WAIC 2026 With Travel and Local-Service Agent Demos

The Shanghai showcase centers on an agentic operating system and integrations with Ctrip, Alipay, Didi and Meituan, though product specifications and independent confirmation of its exhibition award remain unavailable.

STEPX unveiled its first AI terminal, the STEPX Neo, at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 17, using the event to position the device as a native agentic computing product rather than a conventional smartphone with an AI assistant added on top.

The company described STEPX Neo as a large-model-native agent phone and terminal built around Step AOS, its “agentic-native” operating system. It also said the product received a WAIC 2026 “Treasure of the Exhibition” honor, a label commonly used for standout displays at major Chinese trade shows. The available information does not provide the award criteria or an organizer confirmation.

At its WAIC booth, STEPX demonstrated its Amoo personal agent handling travel and local-service tasks. In one travel workflow, the company said a user could ask about a trip after viewing information on screen, and Amoo would connect with Ctrip to plan flights and hotels while avoiding calendar conflicts. In another demonstration, Amoo called Alipay and presented an information card that let the user move into the next step of a transaction.

STEPX said it has established AI-focused cooperation with Ctrip, Alipay, Didi and Meituan, spanning travel, local services and public-service scenarios. The company presents those relationships as a way to turn the terminal into an execution layer for Chinese digital-service platforms, rather than simply a device for answering questions or generating text.

That positioning matters for buyers and platform partners because the value proposition depends heavily on access to service providers and permissioned workflow integration. A terminal that can identify an itinerary, compare options, account for scheduling conflicts and hand off to payment or booking services requires more than an on-device model. It requires software interfaces, commercial partnerships and safeguards around data access and transaction authorization.

STEPX says Amoo has four core capabilities: memory, decision-making, execution and security. It argues that these functions allow the agent to convert fragmented requests into a connected sequence of actions. The company did not disclose hardware specifications, retail pricing, production plans, launch timing, model parameters, or the degree to which processing occurs on device versus in the cloud.

The product’s category also remains somewhat unclear. STEPX calls Neo both an AI terminal and an agent-native phone. That distinction is relevant for supply-chain planning: a smartphone product would require established handset component sourcing, radio certification, carrier and distribution arrangements, while a broader terminal category could allow a different hardware configuration and route to market. No details released for the WAIC presentation resolve that question.

STEPX also said Neo had previously passed an L3 test under China’s artificial-intelligence terminal intelligence grading standards. The company characterized that result as a national benchmark for AI-terminal capability, but did not provide the test documentation or explain the evaluation scope in its WAIC announcement.

For global device makers, the exhibit illustrates a Chinese approach to agentic hardware competition: integrate an AI model, operating system and service ecosystem into a single consumer-facing product. The immediate differentiator is not a disclosed chipset or component innovation. It is the ability to connect an agent to high-frequency domestic platforms such as travel booking, payments, ride hailing and local commerce.

STEPX’s claimed WAIC honor could support its marketing effort as it seeks to establish Neo as a flagship AI terminal. But the commercial significance will depend on whether the demonstrated integrations become broadly available, how reliably agents complete multi-step tasks, and whether STEPX can translate its Shanghai showcase into a defined product, supply chain and sales program.