OpenAI is reportedly building a smartphone where AI agents replace apps

[Skye Jacobs]

Rumor mill: OpenAI is reportedly working on a smartphone, but with a new approach: the project centers on AI agents as the primary interface, not apps. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a post that the company is developing a device designed to "deliver a comprehensive AI agent service." The project suggests a move away from the app-driven model toward one where AI handles tasks directly for the user.

The hardware side appears more conventional. Kuo says the device would use chips from either MediaTek or Qualcomm and be assembled by Luxshare, a manufacturer that also produces iPhones. That points to reliance on established partners rather than a new supply chain.

The more notable change is how the handset would work. Instead of a home screen filled with apps, the interface would revolve around a live panel of AI-driven activity. Kuo describes a system where users interact with ongoing tasks – like booking flights or pulling together market data – without jumping between apps.

A concept image shows a screen built around these active processes rather than icons. While that design isn't final, the idea is that AI agents handle multi-step tasks across services in the background.

That approach has been discussed across the industry, but mostly at the software layer. OpenAI appears to be exploring what happens when that model is built into the device itself. Owning the hardware could give the company more control over performance, data flow, and how its models are used day to day.

– 郭明錤｜Ming-Chi Kuo (@mingchikuo) April 27, 2026

There are still open questions. Kuo doesn't say what operating system the device would run, though it would likely rely on an existing mobile platform. How deeply OpenAI would customize and integrate its models remains unclear.

The timeline also suggests this is an early-stage effort. Kuo says the device may not be finalized until late 2026 or early 2027, with mass production targeted for 2028. That gives OpenAI time to refine both the hardware and the user experience, which would need to feel meaningfully different from today's smartphones to gain traction.

The bigger challenge isn't building the device – it's changing user behavior. Replacing apps with AI agents might sound efficient in theory, but it depends on users trusting those systems to act on their behalf with minimal input.

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OpenAI is reportedly building a smartphone where AI agents replace apps

 

[JMGuy]

Sounds like OpenAI is realizing that being an app on someone else’s OS is a losing game long-term—especially with Apple and Google breathing down their necks. But moving into mobile phone hardware seems like a desperate attempt to own the pipe because they know their software lead is shrinking. If they can’t win the platform war, they’re basically just an expensive feature companies like Apple will eventually replace overnight.

History is littered with tech giants who thought they could disrupt the mobile market only to get crushed by the sheer scale of existing ecosystems. It’s hard not to see this as just another Hail Mary idea to justify their valuation to VCs. OpenAI hasn’t yet found a sustainable business model and chasing a hardware dream will likely bleed them dry before they ever reach mass production. IMHO, pushing out ideas like this just screams core-incapability rather than innovative-visionary.

 

[VariableSpike]

Definitely what they should be focusing on and not the fact that their user metrics are down and their CFO is "unsure" if they can pay for future upcoming hardware orders with vendors alongside their deteriorating financial position..... /s

Apps are already annoying enough to use as a normal user, and I only use AI for banal tasks or questions of no major importance with the hallucination and the fact that no matter what, it is a text prediction machine, so for them to go "oh we want to remove the app as an intermediary and do everything for you, trust us" is a sure fire way to end up with situations like the flight you asked it to book to Rome in Italy for next week not being booked at all because no tickets were available, but it didn't tell you or hallucinated a ticket, or ending up heading to the complete wrong place, just completely laughable, and could only be designed by people sealed into these companies in Silicon valley, completely devoid from how normal people use their devices, interact with the internet and AI

 

[NumberNine]

Gotta reap data from illiterates somehow, don't want anyone to get left behind. Ideally one day in the future people will be unable to execute a basic bodily function without their phone providing monitored guidance.

 

[LordVile95]

But what happens when you want to play a game, watch a video or browse a site shopping for something?

 

[wiyosaya]

But what happens when you want to play a game, watch a video or browse a site shopping for something?

I'm sure it will do all that for you. /s

 

[axiomatic13]

I'll take "Things I won't buy" for $300, Alex.

 

[FF222]

Smokes and mirrors, to deflect from the fact that the AI bubble is popping. OpenAI has neither the time, nor the money, and not even the expertise to actually bring this to market.