Watch: This may fade as noise, but if OpenAI confirms or moves forward, it could become a real signal.
Key Takeaways
- Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says OpenAI is developing a smartphone with MediaTek, Qualcomm, and Luxshare
- The device would replace traditional apps with AI agents that handle tasks directly
- Specifications are expected to be finalised by end of 2026 or Q1 2027, with mass production starting 2028
- OpenAI declined to comment and has not confirmed any smartphone project
- OpenAI’s first confirmed hardware announcement is still expected in the second half of 2026, previously reported as earbuds
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says OpenAI is working on a smartphone that would replace traditional apps with AI agents, developed in collaboration with chipmakers MediaTek and Qualcomm and manufacturing partner Luxshare.
— 郭明錤｜Ming-Chi Kuo (@mingchikuo) April 27, 2026
Kuo, who has a track record covering Apple’s hardware pipeline, published a note suggesting OpenAI would develop its own smartphone chip with MediaTek and Qualcomm, with Luxshare serving as co-design and manufacturing partner.
Component specifications are expected to be locked by the end of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027, with mass production targeted for 2028.
The core idea behind the device, according to Kuo, is that AI agents would handle tasks that apps currently perform. Apple and Google control what apps can access on their platforms and what system permissions they receive.
By owning its own hardware stack, OpenAI could deploy AI across the device without those restrictions. Kuo also notes that a phone would give OpenAI access to continuous user context data that no app on a third-party device could match.
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment. The company has confirmed it plans to announce its first hardware product in the second half of 2026, with earlier reports pointing to earbuds rather than a phone. The smartphone, if real, would be a separate and significantly more ambitious project on a longer timeline.
Apps will eventually go away.— Carl Pei, CEO, Nothing
The idea of an app-free, agent-driven device is not unique to OpenAI. Nothing CEO Carl Pei made a similar prediction at SXSW, and vibe-coding app makers have been vocal about a future where users interact with AI directly rather than through discrete applications.
That consensus is building across the industry, but consensus and shipping hardware are different things.
Kuo’s note is an analyst projection, not a company announcement. OpenAI’s silence on the story is notable: the company has been open about its hardware ambitions in general terms but has not confirmed partners, timelines, or product categories beyond the 2026 announcement window.
A 2028 mass production date gives OpenAI significant room to change direction, pause the project, or absorb a partner without any public commitment.
If the phone does ship on Kuo’s timeline, it would enter a market where both Apple and Google will have had years to respond to the agent-first model.
The more immediate question is whether OpenAI’s 2026 hardware announcement, whatever form it takes, signals enough ambition to pressure those platforms into loosening their own AI restrictions before a rival device arrives.
