The Jony Ive AI device has dominated hardware speculation around OpenAI for months. But supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says a more conventional product may actually ship first: a smartphone, with mass production targeted for early 2027.
Kuo, whose Apple supply chain predictions have a strong track record, reported this week that OpenAI is "fast-tracking" the device. The phone is expected to run a customized version of Android - a choice that makes sense if OpenAI wants to build ChatGPT directly into the operating system rather than working around Apple's restrictions on third-party AI layers.
None of this is confirmed by OpenAI. Kuo is working from supply chain signals, not an official announcement. But early 2027 mass production puts a finished device in consumer hands sometime late 2027 or early 2028.
The competitive problem is real. By then, Apple, Google, and Samsung will have had several more product cycles to integrate their own AI assistants deeper into hardware. OpenAI would be entering a market where every major phone maker is already building AI in from the start - without the manufacturing relationships, retail distribution, or hardware experience those companies have accumulated over decades.
The Ive device - described as a fundamentally new kind of AI interface rather than a smartphone - is presumably still in development. Whether both products ship or one gets cut, OpenAI is clearly betting that ChatGPT needs a home that isn't just an app icon.