Topline<\/p>\n
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called a recent report the company showed investors a prototype handheld, iPhone-like device designed for interacting with artificial intelligence systems \u201cutterly false\u201d\u2014although reports have continued indicating the company may be trying to expand its retail offerings.<\/p>\n
A report indicated the company was showing a prototype handheld AI device to investors.<\/p>\n
VCG via Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, SpaceX showed some investors a prototype similar to an iPhone but \u201cslimmer,\u201d which would run on SpaceX\u2019s proprietary operating system.<\/p>\n The device would also use AI technology from xAI, which SpaceX absorbed in February, and use chips from Qualcomm, the Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n However, the device is reportedly still in a prototype phase\u2014no name for the object has been reported, and it is unclear if it will ever be released to the public.<\/p>\n The SpaceX chief has frequently pushed back against reports about the company developing an iPhone-like competitor\u2014flatly stating<\/a> \u201cwe are not developing a phone\u201d after a similar report from Reuters<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.<\/p>\n Tangent<\/p>\n Speculation about a possible mobile device from SpaceX comes as the company reportedly plans to expand its business into retail mobile phone service. Chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell told investors the company was considering plans to offer a terrestrial mobile phone service, the Financial Times<\/a> first reported last week. The same day, Bloomberg<\/a> reported the company was in talks with Charter Communications about a partnership to use the internet provider\u2019s ground infrastructure for its phone traffic. SpaceX already partners with T-Mobile to provide direct to cell satellite phone service using its Starlink satellites. <\/p>\n Crucial Quote<\/p>\n \u201cSpaceX has a long way to go before successfully manufacturing a consumer device at scale and competing against the leading platforms,\u201d analysts at Vital Knowledge<\/a> wrote after the report on Wednesday. \u201cMusk-led companies are given a massive benefit of the doubt when it comes to product promises (which translates into enormous valuation premiums at SPCX and TSLA based on products that are more ideas than reality), but it\u2019s hard to imagine SpaceX becoming a force in consumer electronics.\u201d SpaceX\u2019s stock price is on a downswing Wednesday, having dropped 7.3% as of around 3:30 p.m. EDT. The slump drove Musk\u2019s net worth down<\/a> by more than $50 billion, eliminating his status as a trillionaire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called a recent report the company showed investors a prototype handheld, iPhone-like device…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[220,605,61,60,82,247,2306],"class_list":["post-528441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ai","tag-elon-musk","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spacex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}