May 7, 2026 – According to well – known tech analyst Ming – Chi Kuo, OpenAI is stepping up its efforts on the AI – agent smartphone project, with a new goal of starting mass production in the first half of 2027, earlier than what the outside world had anticipated.
Kuo pointed out that there are several potential driving forces behind this accelerated progress. One is to bolster the narrative for a possible initial public offering (IPO) by the end of the year. Another is the increasingly fierce competition in the field of AI – agent smartphones. If everything goes as planned, the combined shipments of this device are expected to reach close to 30 million units between 2027 and 2028.
In terms of hardware configuration, the device will adopt a dual neural processing unit (NPU) architecture for heterogeneous AI computing. To ensure the security of the AI agent, it will introduce a “hard – isolation safe” pKVM and in – line hashing technology.
The image signal processor (ISP) is another major highlight of this device, focusing on enhancing visual perception capabilities in real – world scenarios. For storage, it will be equipped with LPDDR6 memory and UFS 5.0 flash memory.
It’s worth noting that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has dropped several hints recently about the company’s smartphone project. Last week, he publicly stated that it was the right time to “seriously rethink operating systems and user interface design.”
Interestingly, OpenAI is collaborating with former Apple design chief Jony Ive on a series of AI hardware. Although Ive might be reluctant to get involved in the smartphone field again, he has repeatedly said in public that he hopes to make up for the social problems caused by promoting the popularity of smartphones through the next wave of hardware design.
