GoKawiilLast week Ming-Chi Kuo broke the news that OpenAI’s hardware ambitions now include a smartphone to directly compete with the iPhone. And a new update from Kuo suggests the company is moving even faster than anticipated to launch the first OpenAI phone.
OpenAI’s iPhone competitor now targeting 2027 launch
Ming-Chi Kuo, writing on X:
OpenAI appears to be fast-tracking its first AI agent phone, with mass production targeted as early as 1H27. Potential drivers include supporting a year-end IPO narrative and intensifying competition in AI agent phones. MediaTek currently appears better positioned to become the sole processor supplier, with the device set to use a customized version of the Dimensity 9600, built on TSMC’s N2P node in 2H26. The ISP is the headline spec, with an enhanced HDR pipeline improving real-world visual sensing. Other key specs include a dual-NPU architecture for heterogeneous AI compute, LPDDR6 + UFS 5.0 to ease memory bottlenecks, and pKVM + inline hashing for security. If development stays on track, combined 2027–2028 shipments could reach around 30 million units.
If mass production of the OpenAI phone can happen in the first half of 2027, then a public launch in the fall would likely be the goal.
Launching a smartphone next year sounds extremely ambitious. OpenAI has been working on hardware devices for a while, but the pivot to making a smartphone sounds very recent.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been hinting recently at the company’s phone project. He said last week that now is the right time to “seriously rethink how operating systems and user interfaces are designed.”
The company has been working with longtime Apple design head Jony Ive on its suite of hardware devices.
Ive has seemed reticent to revisit the smartphone. Instead, public comments have indicated he wants to undo some of the societal harm that smartphones have birthed with his next wave of hardware designs. But presumably Ive is heavily involved in OpenAI’s phone project.
Are you interested in an OpenAI smartphone, and do you think a 2027 launch is possible? Let us know in the comments.
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