ChatGPT phone coming? OpenAI wants to compete with the iPhone, and AI agents will replace apps

According to reports, OpenAI is working with chip manufacturers MediaTek and Qualcomm to develop specialized processors for the device. Luxshare, a large manufacturer, was selected as an exclusive partner for joint design and production. of electronics that cooperates with Apple. It is expected that the specifications and other suppliers will be defined by the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027.

A new paradigm for mobile interaction

The key vision for the OpenAI phone is said to be a device fundamentally built around artificial intelligence, potentially moving away from the traditional app-based ecosystem. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that AI agents will be central to the user experience, able to perform tasks and understand user context in a way that current smartphones cannot. Such an approach would require deep integration of hardware and software, which could explain the company’s decision to build its own device instead of just offering its AI models to other manufacturers.

This development follows OpenAI’s collaboration with former Apple design chief Jony Ive on a range of artificial intelligence-infused hardware products. The speculations are given additional weight by the recent announcement of the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, who wrote on the X social network that “it seems like a good time to seriously reconsider how operating systems and user interfaces are designed”. Altman himself has previously expressed the belief that current devices are designed for a pre-AI world and that unlocking the potential of intelligent agents requires “fundamentally new” hardware. This venture is backed by significant financial resources, including the reported acquisition of Ive’s startup io Products for $6.5 billion and a large private financing round of $122 billion in March 2026.

The crowded arena of smartphone hardware

OpenAI enters a mature and extremely competitive market. In the first quarter of 2026, Apple and Samsung dominated the global smartphone market with shares of around 21 percent and 20 percent, respectively. The history of the technology industry is full of failed attempts by large companies to break into this market, including the ventures of Amazon (Fire Phone) and Microsoft (Kin). These examples highlight the enormous difficulty in challenging the established duopoly of iOS and Android.

Nevertheless, the involvement of Jony Ive brings the project a huge design reputation. His philosophy emphasizes simplicity, deep understanding of materials and creating products that are “truly better”, not just different. His approach is to find a solution that seems “inevitable and obvious”, a principle that could be applied to the redesign of user interfaces around artificial intelligence.

The race for devices with native artificial intelligence

OpenAI’s move is part of a broader industry trend toward integrating powerful artificial intelligence directly into consumer hardware. Analysts expect that by the time an OpenAI phone could appear in 2028, every mainstream smartphone will be an “AI phone,” with advanced AI capabilities becoming a standard feature. Both Apple and Google have made significant strides in this area.

In early 2026, Apple announced a major partnership with Google to integrate the Gemini AI model into Siri and other Apple Intelligence features, signaling a pragmatic approach to rapidly advancing its AI capabilities. The potential OpenAI phone represents a different strategy: building an entire hardware and software ecosystem from scratch, focused on a native AI experience. This approach could offer a more seamless and powerful AI assistant, but it faces the monumental challenge of building a user base and development ecosystem from the ground up.