OpenAI might be making a phone — and it could kill the app as we know it

Ming-Chi Kuo is back with another hardware prediction, and this time it’s about OpenAI. The analyst known for nailing Apple’s plans says the company is working on a smartphone — not just earbuds, which have been rumored for a while.

According to Kuo’s note, OpenAI would partner with MediaTek and Qualcomm for the chip, and Luxshare for co-design and manufacturing. That’s a serious lineup, and it suggests this isn’t some half-baked experiment.

What’s more interesting is the software angle. Kuo says the phone would rely on AI agents to handle tasks instead of traditional apps. No app store, no walled garden controlled by Apple or Google. OpenAI would control the entire hardware stack, meaning it could give its AI system-level access to features that are currently off-limits on iOS or Android.

This isn’t a new idea. Vibe coding app makers have been talking about an app-less future for a while. Nothing CEO Carl Pei said at SXSW that apps will eventually go away. But OpenAI actually has the user base to make it work — ChatGPT is nearing a billion weekly users. If anyone can convince people to ditch their app launcher, it’s them.

The phone would supposedly be designed to continuously understand user context. That’s a fancy way of saying it would hoover up way more data than an app ever could. Kuo expects a mix of small on-device models and cloud models to handle different tasks, which makes sense for latency and privacy.

Timeline-wise, component suppliers should be locked in by end of 2026 or early 2027, with mass production starting in 2028. That’s a long way off, but OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane already said the company’s first hardware product is coming in the second half of 2026 — likely those earbuds.

OpenAI didn’t comment on this story, which is standard. I’m skeptical about the 2028 timeline — hardware is hard, and OpenAI has never shipped a phone before. But if they pull it off, it could be the most interesting smartphone launch in years. Apps are due for a shakeup.