SpaceX has reportedly shown investors a prototype of an AI device that looks and feels like a slim smartphone, according to TechCrunch, which cited a Wall Street Journal report. The device is described as sleeker and thinner than an iPhone, putting it somewhere in the territory between a touchscreen phone and something like the Rabbit R1. SpaceX apparently showed it to investors before any public announcement, and made clear the design is still early and could change.
Elon Musk has pushed back hard. He called the report “utterly false,” which either means the Journal’s sources got it wrong, or Musk is doing what Musk does when he doesn’t want something out in the open yet.
The timing is interesting. OpenAI is building its own AI hardware device in partnership with Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief design officer. CEO Sam Altman has described it as something more calming than a phone. The project has reportedly hit some turbulence, and OpenAI recently brought in Paul Meade, Apple’s VP who oversaw the Vision Pro headset, to help push things forward. If OpenAI is racing to own the AI hardware category, it would make sense that Musk wants a seat at that table too.
SpaceX is not a random player here. It has real manufacturing scale through its rocket and satellite operations, and sister company Tesla has experience building consumer hardware at volume. SpaceX also has access to chips, which is a genuine bottleneck for most AI device startups. The reported plan is for the device to run on a proprietary operating system and integrate technology from xAI, Musk’s AI company that SpaceX acquired earlier this year. That would keep the product off Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS ecosystems entirely.
SpaceX has also been signaling broader wireless ambitions. Starlink Mobile is already positioning itself as a competitor to Verizon and AT&T. At least one analyst has floated the idea that T-Mobile or AT&T could be acquisition targets for SpaceX, though buying a major carrier would cost an eye-watering amount of money.
Still, a prototype shown to investors is a long way from a product on shelves. The AI device category has not been kind to newcomers. Humane launched the AI Pin to widespread disappointment. Rabbit shipped the R1 to mostly confused reviews. Neither product found the mass market it was looking for. The graveyard of “post-smartphone” concepts is already crowded, and the question of whether consumers actually want a standalone AI device remains genuinely open.
What SpaceX has going for it, if the reports are true, is scale, chips, connectivity infrastructure, and a founder who is very publicly competitive with Sam Altman. Whether that adds up to a product people buy is a different question entirely.