OpenAI might be building a phone that kills the app store

Remember when everyone thought OpenAI was just making earbuds? Turns out they might be aiming a lot higher.

Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo — the same guy who’s been eerily accurate about Apple hardware for years — dropped a note suggesting OpenAI is working on a full-blown smartphone. Partners include MediaTek and Qualcomm for the chip, with Luxshare handling co-design and manufacturing.

Here’s where it gets interesting: Kuo says the phone won’t run apps the way we know them. Instead, AI agents would handle everything. No app store, no gatekeepers. Just tell the phone what you want and let the model figure out the rest.

This isn’t some fringe prediction either. Nothing CEO Carl Pei said at SXSW that apps are going away. Vibe coding app makers are already talking about a post-app future. OpenAI just happens to be the one with the resources to actually build the hardware for it.

The logic makes sense. Apple and Google control the app pipeline tightly — what gets access to what, how much system integration is allowed. By building its own phone from the ground up, OpenAI can give its AI unfettered access to every sensor, every permission, every piece of context. That’s a massive advantage if you’re trying to build something that truly understands what you’re doing.

Kuo also mentions a hybrid model approach: small on-device models for quick, private tasks, and cloud models for heavier lifting. That’s the same split we’re seeing in other AI hardware efforts, but it’s good to hear they’re thinking about it seriously.

Of course, the timeline is far out. Final specs and suppliers won’t be locked until late 2026 or early 2027, with mass production starting in 2028. That’s a long wait in AI years. But OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane did say earlier this year that their first hardware product — which everyone assumed was those earbuds — is on track for the second half of 2026. Maybe the phone comes later, or maybe the earbuds were always a stepping stone.

Either way, this is higher than I expected. A phone that replaces apps with agents isn’t just a product launch — it’s a direct challenge to the entire mobile ecosystem. OpenAI didn’t comment on the story, but they don’t have to. The pieces are starting to line up.