Elon Musk might have found his next big venture, as the tech billionaire has spoken out about the idea that he could get into the smartphone game. With his fingers in many pies, Musk's businesses include everything from electric vehicles to rockets, artificial intelligence to tunnel construction.
The world's richest man has promised to get back into Tesla after stepping back from politics, and although his EV baby has faced some massive losses since he spectacularly claimed President Donald Trump was named in the Epstein Files, he's hoping to turn his fortunes around.
It's not just electric vehicles coming off the production line at Tesla, with Elon Musk showing off the company's ambitious Optimus robots. Tesla has plenty of futuristic tech at its disposal, so could it be a matter of time until Mr. Musk tries to take on Apple and Google with his own smartphone?
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There have been wild rumors that a so-called 'Tesla Pi' phone could be on the way to rival the likes of the iPhone. As well as connecting to Musk's Starlink satellites, there are sensationalist claims that the Tesla Pi would be able to work on Mars, as Musk hopes to send humans there. That might seem pretty far-fetched, but among its innovations, one of the most popular ideas is a supposed 'perpetual battery' that would mean we never have to charge our phones again.
When grilled on the idea of a Tesla smartphone in October 2024, Musk downplayed the idea but admitted he'll do it if he has to. Addressing the crowd in Philadelphia, the billionaire admitted: "Man, I sure hope we don't have to make a phone. That's a lot of work. The idea of making a phone makes me want to die. But if we have to make a phone, we will, but we will aspire not to make a phone."
Highlighting the work of key competitors, he continued: "You know, I do think that the various companies and Apple and Google, Android and whatnot, they need to make sure they don't have a heavy hand in the app store and whatnot, or they will create a forcing function for there to be a competitor.
"But man, I dread the idea of making a phone. But if that turns out to be necessary, we'll do it, but hopefully it is not necessary."
He also spoke about it on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, concluding: "No, we're not doing a phone...We could do a phone. The operating system of Tesla is Linux-based, but we've written a massive amount of software on top of that."
It's true we've seen other tech giants try to muscle in on markets and fail spectacularly (remember when Microsoft's Zune tried to take on the iPod?), so we can understand why Musk might be cautious.
For the time being, Tesla's focus remains on EVs, autonomous tech, and energy solutions. By the sounds of it, potential iPhone rivals will have to wait.