- OpenAI phone is expected to arrive in first half of 2027, a massive departure for the previous reports on 2028 release.
- If true, we are already inching closer to it's launch, something that will give us a massive change in user experience compared to Android and iOS devices.
- Qualcomm and MediaTek are working on a custom chipset while Luxshare is a design and manufacturing partner to OpenAI.
The OpenAI phone is coming. Unlike phones with iOS or Android (or any other OS), this will be different thanks to its AI-agentic approach and will be co-developed by Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Luxshare, sharing most of its manufacturing profiles. We are now greeted with more details on the AI phone from OpenAI, including what exactly it is, why OpenAI would work on a project such as this, and more.
OpenAI phone could use a custom AI processor
According to a well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, a prolific Apple analyst and tipster, OpenAI is working with Qualcomm and MediaTek for a custom-made processor powering the upcoming AI phone. Apart from that, Luxshare is working on the system design as a manufacturing partner.
What made us want to know more was how the phone actually works. Instead of the usual apps and how we interact with them, OpenAI phones will let us use a pile of apps and instead use its agent (app), icon (task), and grid (stream), giving us a new way to interact with phones of the future. Perhaps we could find this tech in other devices in the near future, although the maiden debut is what counts, after all.
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Kuo mentions how OEMs must control both the hardware and the operating system to deliver comprehensive AI agent services. Furthermore, phones will stay as a large-scale device category in the future, although we will see momentous upgrades and improvements over the years (just as in previous years).
Logically, the phone, which is the single largest device that stays in contact with humans nowadays, needs to understand the user’s context, how the battery is being consumed, how the execution of tasks happens, and where it can continuously understand and learn. This brings OpenAI phones much closer to what we as phone users want our phones to do, rather than scrambling through apps, options, features, and settings to get things done. You can read more about it here.
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OpenAI phone may launch earlier than expected
Earlier, citing various reports, including ours, the OpenAI phone was slated to arrive in 2028, which essentially gives us more than 1.5 years to tinker around. However, it seems OpenAI might have quickened the process with its AI-agent smartphone arriving as early as the first half of 2027.
For context, we are in the middle of 2026 and more precisely, towards the near end of the first half of 2026. It gives us almost a year before the OpenAI phone rolls out, thanks to the accelerated timeline. It could be great for the AI giant, as it is expected to undergo an IPO by the end of this year.
