9 the explanation why the ChatGPTphone is not an iPhone risk

As if the smartphone market wasn’t already filled with sufficient rivals to the iPhone, it’s emerged this week that AI big OpenAI is on the brink of throw its hat within the ring. In a brief article posted to Twitter/X, the extremely revered analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed the ChatGPT maker is “set to redefine smartphones” with a brand new handset created in partnership with Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Luxshare.

Apple has to this point struggled to deliver the iPhone in control with the tempo of AI growth, and on first impressions, this would possibly sound like a formidable problem for John Ternus to take care of as he settles in as CEO. However I don’t suppose he’ll be fearful about the specter of the “ChatGPTphone.” Right here’s why.

1. Apps aren’t lifeless but

Within the article, Kuo talks in regards to the evolution from app to agent. “Customers will not be making an attempt to make use of a pile of apps,” he says. “They’re making an attempt to get duties finished and fulfil wants by way of the cellphone.” That sounds good if the apps you’re changing are Calendar, Clock, Climate, and a bunch of airline, rail, and cab apps. However individuals will nonetheless need to watch and take heed to streaming companies, browse social media, play video games, observe sports activities, and do dozens of different issues on their telephones. You possibly can’t exchange apps with an AI agent except it’s only a glorified app launcher.

2. It’s too late

Apple has been doing this for practically 20 years, and has constructed up a loyal fan base of customers who would by no means take into account something apart from an iPhone. Google and Samsung, too, have multi-generation followers, as do the opposite producers of Android telephones. Even when OpenAI’s cellphone got here out in 2026, that will already be terribly late to be making an attempt to interrupt into the smartphone market, however Kuo says mass manufacturing gained’t begin till 2028… by which level, as a commenter factors out, OpenAI might not even exist. It’s a mark of OpenAI’s lateness that by this level, most different corporations are attempting to plan for what comes after the smartphone.

3. OpenAI has no expertise in smartphone {hardware}

OpenAI can be going from a standing begin in a mature market filled with contenders which have, as talked about above, been doing this for nearly twenty years. Even with design guru Jony Ive on the workforce, it takes a number of generations to get this kind of factor proper, and that’s time OpenAI hasn’t acquired.

4. OpenAI is overestimating its model loyalty

“OpenAI’s benefits lie in its client model, years of collected person information, and main AI fashions,” Kuo writes. We’ll come to the second and third elements in the end, however even the model consciousness is debatable. OpenAI actually has quite a lot of model worth in ChatGPT, however far much less as an organization. And simply because individuals know and even like a chunk of software program, it doesn’t imply they’re ready to pay a whole bunch of {dollars} for {hardware} by the identical firm.

5. The ecosystem isn’t there

With its iterative updates and customarily conservative designs, Apple makes the smartphone market look simple. Nevertheless it’s not simply in regards to the cellphone, and OpenAI hasn’t acquired something like the identical surrounding ecosystem to push individuals in the direction of its smartphone after which lock them in. The iPhone advantages from seamless compatibility with the AirPods, Apple Watch, Mac, and Imaginative and prescient Professional, and in addition advantages from the attraction of Apple Music, iMessage, Apple Pay, the App Retailer, and a lot extra. The one halo product OpenAI can construct a cellphone round is ChatGPT, and the issue with that…

6. What’s the distinctive promoting level?

…is that ChatGPT is already on the iPhone, each as an app and built-in with Siri and Apple Intelligence. OpenAI may minimize these off (together with the Android app) to offer itself a USP, however that will doubtless harm OpenAI greater than its smartphone opponents.

7. ChatGPT isn’t even that particular

Sure, ChatGPT was the catalyst for the AI explosion over the previous few years, and it’s a market-leading mannequin. However rivals have proliferated, and most are backed by bigger corporations with a better capability to endure the inevitable market dips. AI is simply prone to change into extra commoditised. Why purchase a cellphone constructed totally round ChatGPT when you may get a cellphone that may run ChatGPT in addition to Gemini, Claude, or whichever mannequin it’s possible you’ll occur to desire?

8. Apple goes to get AI proper finally

I’m the final individual to reward Siri or Apple Intelligence, however Apple has made AI a high precedence, and it has the sources to succeed in an answer finally (or simply purchase an organization that has a worthwhile mannequin already). It’s actually only a matter of time earlier than Apple Intelligence works effectively, and that’ll occur earlier than the OpenAI cellphone arrives. At which level, the one factor OpenAI does higher than Apple gained’t be a difficulty any extra, whereas Apple will nonetheless have all its different benefits as a maker of telephones and cellphone software program.

9. OpenAI by no means wished to make a cellphone anyway

When you look at OpenAI’s {hardware} growth historical past, it turns into clear that this complete challenge isn’t its first alternative. The corporate initially wished to make an AI pin, which it labored on with former Apple design guru Jony Ive (who’s now extra intently related to OpenAI following a merger with Ive’s LoveFrom studio in 2025). Why all of a sudden shift from a pin to a cellphone? All the explanations above, presumably. However rival AI pins similar to Humane had been savaged by reviewers, and OpenAI is now fleeing to the extra consumer-friendly world of telephones as a half-hearted compromise. Good luck with that.