OpenAI did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
Kuo wrote that OpenAI would make a phone because delivering a comprehensive AI agent service would require full control of both the operating system and the hardware and because smartphones will be the biggest category of devices for the foreseeable future.
For users, an AI agent would redefine the smartphone by helping them get things done, rather than trying to use an assortment of apps, Kuo wrote.
“OpenAI’s advantages lie in its consumer brand, years of accumulated user data, and leading AI models,” Kuo wrote. “Smartphone hardware is already highly mature, so OpenAI can work with the supply chain to develop the device. On the business model side, OpenAI may bundle subscriptions with hardware and build a new AI agent ecosystem with developers.”
There has been speculation about the sorts of devices OpenAI may be developing at least since the company acquired io, an AI device startup created in 2024 by former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive and Apple designers Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan.
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It was reported at the time that OpenAI acquired io for just under $6.5 billion and planned to make it the devices division at OpenAI.
In November 2025, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said the company is working with Ive on a multimodal device but that she could not share what it looks like or feels like. She added that “in a multimodal world for AI,” devices would include text, sound and sight, and that she is looking forward to a device that doesn’t require looking at a screen.
It was reported in February that OpenAI’s effort to develop AI-powered devices involves more than 200 people and that the team is working on devices that include a smart speaker, smart glasses and a smart lamp. The report added that the first device would be released no earlier than February 2027 and that the details could change.
