Challenging the dominance of the iPhone? OpenAI secretly accelerates the development of "AI intelligent mobile phone", aiming to achieve mass production by 2027 at the earliest.

Renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that OpenAI seems to be accelerating its first AI smart phone and aims to achieve mass production by the first half of 2027. In a post on the X platform, Ming-Chi Kuo said: "Potential driving factors include the narrative support for an IPO by the end of the year and the increasingly fierce competition in the AI smart phone field." Ming-Chi Kuo added that MediaTek currently seems to be the only processor supplier. The device is planned to use a custom version of the Tianji 9600 processor and will be built in the second half of 2026 based on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR (TSM.US) 's N2P process node. Ming-Chi Kuo pointed out: "The ISP (Image Signal Processor) is its core specification, enhancing real-world visual perception with an enhanced HDR pipeline. Other key specifications include dual NPU architecture for heterogeneous AI computing, LPDDR6 + UFS 5.0 to alleviate memory bottlenecks, and pKVM and inline hash technology for security." The analyst mentioned that if development progresses as planned, total shipments in 2027 and 2028 could reach around 30 million units. Last week, Ming-Chi Kuo discussed "Why is OpenAI making a phone?" and said that OpenAI, supported by Microsoft Corporation, is collaborating with Qualcomm and MediaTek to develop smartphone processors, with Luxshare Precision Industry as the exclusive system design and manufacturing partner. The analyst then estimated that mass production could take place in 2028. An AI smart phone is a system or program that can autonomously perform tasks on behalf of users or other systems. Ming-Chi Kuo noted that AI smart phones redefine what smartphones are: users are not just using a bunch of apps, they are trying to accomplish tasks and meet their needs through their phones. This fundamentally changes how people perceive smartphones. The analyst emphasized that AI smart phones need to constantly understand the user's context. Power consumption, memory hierarchy management, and the execution of basic small models will be key considerations in processor design. Meanwhile, more complex or computationally intensive tasks will be handled by cloud-based AI processing. Ming-Chi Kuo also created a conceptual design for the smartphone interface, showing how AI smart phones redefined smartphones, and compared it with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and today's models. The iPhone currently dominates the global smartphone market. In the second quarter ending on March 28, iPhone generated $569.9 billion in revenue for the tech giant. The demand for the iPhone 17 series continues to grow, driving an increase in sales. After the AI smart phone is developed and released, how it will compete with the iPhone, which has been successful in the market for over a decade and has helped Apple Inc. become one of the world's most valuable companies, remains to be seen.