OpenAI, the company best known for ChatGPT, is now rumored to be developing its first smartphone—and a fresh leak is offering a clearer picture of what could be coming. While OpenAI hasn’t officially confirmed any phone plans yet, the latest details suggest the company may be aiming for a major push into consumer hardware with an “AI agent smartphone” built to do more than a typical app-driven device.
Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that OpenAI’s AI-focused smartphone could enter mass production as early as the first half of 2027. If that timeline holds, it positions the device as a next-wave product designed around on-device AI performance, not just incremental upgrades to cameras or displays.
One of the most interesting claims is the potential chipset choice. The leak says MediaTek is currently the leading candidate to supply the processor, with OpenAI expected to use a custom version of the MediaTek Dimensity 9600. MediaTek is already a major force in Android chipsets, and its current flagship platform is the Dimensity 9500, found in premium devices from well-known phone makers. The Dimensity 9600, meanwhile, is expected to debut in Q4 2026 as MediaTek’s next-generation chip—making it a logical fit for a 2027 smartphone launch.
According to the leak, OpenAI’s customized Dimensity 9600 could be built on TSMC’s advanced N2P manufacturing process. The rumored specs also point to high-end memory and storage support, including LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.0 storage—two upgrades that would help with faster multitasking, quicker AI workloads, and snappier overall performance.
AI performance appears to be at the center of the design. The chipset is said to include a dual NPU (neural processing unit) architecture, which could enable more powerful on-device AI features—potentially reducing reliance on the cloud for certain tasks and improving speed, privacy, and responsiveness.
Security may also be a major selling point. The leak mentions features like pKVM and inline hashing, which are aimed at strengthening device isolation and data integrity. If accurate, this suggests OpenAI could be taking a security-forward approach, especially important for a phone designed to handle personal requests, automate tasks, and manage sensitive information as an “AI agent.”
Shipment expectations are ambitious, too. Kuo reportedly projects total shipments of around 30 million units across 2027 and 2028 combined. If those numbers are even close to accurate, it indicates OpenAI could be planning a broad consumer rollout rather than a limited experimental release.
What makes the rumored device stand out is how it’s expected to work. A previous report described OpenAI’s “AI agent smartphone” as something that would operate differently from a traditional smartphone experience. Instead of bouncing between apps and manually completing every step, the phone would focus on getting tasks done directly—more like an assistant that can execute actions for you, rather than simply presenting options.
For now, everything remains speculative until OpenAI publicly confirms the project. Still, the combination of a 2027 production target, a custom next-gen MediaTek chipset, advanced AI processing, and modern security features paints a picture of a smartphone built from the ground up around AI-first interactions. If OpenAI does enter the smartphone market, it could be one of the most closely watched device launches in years.
