The analyst Ming-Chi Kuoknown for its accurate predictions about Apple products, has published a report in which it assures that OpenAI is developing a smartphone with capabilities of agentic artificial intelligence. According to Kuo, mass production would not reach until 2028so it's best to take it easy before getting too excited.
The striking thing about the project is that OpenAI would be collaborating with Qualcomm and MediaTek to design a custom chipwhile the Chinese company Luxshare —Apple's regular supplier—would act as exclusive manufacturing partner. The announcement sent Qualcomm shares up more than 9% on the stock market, which says a lot about the market's hunger for any news involving OpenAI and hardware.
A phone without apps and with a “task flow”: revolution or marketing?
The interface proposal is perhaps the most risky of all. Instead of the typical application screen, the device would offer a «task flow» where the actions and their status would be displayed directly on the home screen. OpenAI also points out that the phone “needs to continually understand the user's context,” which points to features always active at the chipset level. Pretty on paper, although we already know what happens when privacy collides with convenience.
The project connects directly with the acquisition in 2024 of iothe startup of former Apple chief designer Jony Ivefor more than 6,000 million dollars. Sam Altman even said that the device would be a “third core” alongside phones and laptops, although now rumors clearly point towards a conventional smartphone. Entering that market means competing directly with Apple and Samsung, which together control about 40% of global sales. It's not exactly a walk.
And OpenAI doesn't stop. Just a few days ago he launched GPT-5.5its most advanced model to date with a focus on autonomy and agentic tasks, and now it would make the leap to mobile hardware with all the consequences. The question that remains in the air is whether the world really needs another smartphone, or if OpenAI is confusing ambition with real user need.
Would you be willing to change your current iPhone or Android for an OpenAI phone that eliminates traditional apps and manages everything through artificial intelligence?
