{"id":437806,"date":"2026-05-12T11:52:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/437806\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T11:52:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:52:20","slug":"openai-needs-the-chatgpt-smartphone-even-if-its-doomed-to-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/437806\/","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI needs the ChatGPT smartphone even if it\u2019s doomed to fail"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took OpenAI about a year to make a smartphone revolution, but not of the type we were promised. The company announced it was working on a mysterious hardware device in May 2025, saying it would be something entirely new<\/a> and different from smartphones.<\/p>\n

Among the many meanings of the word \u201crevolution\u201d is the one about the time it takes a celestial body to go in an orbit and return to its initial position. Apparently, a smartphone revolution for OpenAI measures at about a year, as rumors have surfaced<\/a> that the company\u2019s hardware is actually a smartphone but with agentic AI<\/a> and an entirely new user interface.<\/p>\n

I love hearing about new smartphones, and I\u2019d love to try the ChatGPT phone whenever it drops. Sure enough, many others will be curious to try such a device, and OpenAI is basically forced to make it. Still, I\u2019m sure it\u2019s impossible for this phone to change the smartphone market in any meaningful way.OpenAI was wrong about hardware all along<\/p>\n

\"OpenAI\u2019s <\/p>\n

OpenAI\u2019s phones is rumored to have a new agentic AI interface. | Image by Ming-Chi Kuo on X\u201d<\/p>\n

When Apple\u2019s ex-chief designer Jonny Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman first announced they\u2019re working together on a new AI-first device, they said smartphones were legacy devices. For the company that was riding at the front of the AI hype train, such a statement made sense, especially if that company wanted to keep its leading position.
\nFor inhabitants of the real world, that was the most nonsensical statement a big tech executive could ever utter. Smartphones are by far the dominating consumer devices and an integral part of everyone\u2019s life to an extent that makes them virtually irreplaceable.\u00a0Smartphones have turned into a requirement for more and more crucial aspects of daily life, and I\u2019m not talking about texting and social media. Regardless of the brand and OS, you need a smartphone for everything from banking to accessing essential government services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even if AI were as good as OpenAI would like you to believe, there\u2019s no way a voice assistant could replace those essential features, enabled by apps and displays. What\u2019s even worse is that AI is not even remotely close to keeping up with the promises we\u2019ve been fed over the last few years.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d use a chatbot to research new topics, vibe code a small app, or generate some images to joke with friends. However, no AI service is still capable of hailing a taxi or using an app reliably and fast enough for me to consider such features more than a gimmick.<\/p>\n

Gimmicks won\u2019t turn smartphones into legacy devices, and even if AI starts improving surprisingly fast today, it would take it a very long time to reach the utility of a smartphone.OpenAI does need to make a smartphone\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"That <\/p>\n

That won\u2019t be the first time Jony Ive makes a smartphone. | Image by OpenAI<\/p>\n

Putting our beliefs about the future of AI aside, let\u2019s just assume that\u2019s really the technology of the future. Even if that\u2019s the case, it is essential for OpenAI to start producing its own hardware to deliver the full potential of that technology and reach users.<\/p>\n

The only way ChatGPT could replace your smartphone is to somehow get access to as much data about you, your life, and your surroundings as possible. No smart pendant, AI pin, or any other accessory can gather all that data, but our smartphones already have it.<\/p>\n

In the current environment, that\u2019s a roadblock for OpenAI, because it doesn\u2019t have access to the data our phones are gathering. Apple and Google don\u2019t allow such access to anyone, and they are certainly not going to allow it anytime soon.<\/p>\n

That leaves OpenAI with only one solution to its existential problem\u2014to make its own smartphone. Building the ChatGPT phone is the only way for the company to get the data and access, which would allow it to make its own accessories with far-reaching and useful features.The ChatGPT phone is doomed because phones are good already\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"People <\/p>\n

People already like their phones quite a lot. | Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n

However, breaking into the smartphone market is not an easy feat, and it\u2019s almost certain that OpenAI will fail at it. The only way to dethrone the iPhone and the Galaxy is to offer something better, which the ChatGPT phone won\u2019t do.<\/p>\n

Chatting with AI is fun, but Android and iOS phones can already do that, and you can even switch between models depending on your taste, needs, and their development. The rest of the promised features are not even remotely here, and the real ones are certainly not revolutionary.<\/p>\n

OpenAI\u2019s rumored idea for an agent-based smartphone is practically impossible today, meaning it won\u2019t be able to deliver the necessary paradigm shift. Since the ChatGPT phone is based on a compromised idea, we\u2019re much more likely to see a device similar to the Facebook phone<\/a> than an iPhone killer.<\/p>\n

What the ChatGPT phone could do is to push the boundaries of AI and smartphones and give ideas to Apple, Samsung, and the rest of the market. The result could be better agentic AI on the iPhone, which won\u2019t necessarily benefit OpenAI, but it could plant the seed of a paradigm shift.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, I\u2019m glad that OpenAI is willing to try something new and different, even if I believe it won\u2019t be a successful product. I’d still love to try the phone, use it to the limit of its capabilities, and see how those make the current phones even better.<\/p>\n

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View Full Bio<\/p>\n

\n Ilia, a tech journalist at PhoneArena, has been covering the mobile industry since 2011, with experience at outlets like Forbes Bulgaria. Passionate about smartphones, tablets, and consumer tech, he blends deep industry knowledge with a personal fascination that began with his first Nokia and Sony Ericsson devices. Originally from Bulgaria and now based in Lima, Peru, Ilia balances his tech obsessions with walking his dog, training at the gym, and slowly mastering Spanish.\n <\/p>\n

Read the latest from Ilia Temelkov<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took OpenAI about a year to make a smartphone revolution, but not of the type we were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[85,46,321,125],"class_list":["post-437806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-mobile","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}