Elon Musk Is Reportedly Building an AI Device to Replace Your Phone. He Just Won’t Call It That.

Last October, Elon Musk said the idea of making a phone “makes me want to die.” This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX showed investors a prototype of a handset-like AI device slimmer than an iPhone ahead of its IPO. Musk has since called that report “utterly false.”

According to the Journal, the prototype runs on a proprietary operating system, integrates AI technology from SpaceX’s xAI division and would use a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. SpaceX told investors the project is early-stage, the design could still change, and it may never ship.

But the ambition behind it is clear. The device draws on Musk’s long-held vision of an “everything app,” a single platform combining messaging, payments, AI assistance and more, similar to China’s WeChat. Combined with Starlink connectivity and xAI’s Grok, the device would give Musk a consumer stack entirely independent of Apple and Google.

OpenAI is building a similar AI device with Apple’s former design chief Jony Ive. The race to replace the smartphone is officially on, whether Musk admits it or not.