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Is the Tesla Pi phone real? Elon Musk has been debunking rumor for years
You might be curious to know whether the Tesla Pi phone is real after chief executive Elon Musk started dropping hints that he’s taking on cell phones next.
South African billionaire businessman Elon Musk is taking on one industry at a time. Starting out in the digital finance world with PayPal, before moving to the automotive industry with Tesla, the world was Musk’s oyster. And then the world wasn’t enough, as Musk set his sights on the universe by founding SpaceX.
Recent months have seen Elon Musk refocus his attention on social media since the billionaire acquired Twitter back in October. But now, some are curious if Musk is dipping his toes into another major industry: phone tech.
So, is the Tesla Pi phone actually real? Here’s what Tesla’s chief executive has said about launching a phone.
Is the Tesla phone real?
No. If you’ve seen images of the Tesla Pi phone model, we’re sorry to report that they are fake. Unfortunately, these have been taken from a 2021 YouTube video by adrstudiodesign. In this video, the designer mocks up a concept Tesla phone which has been taken as a legitimate design in recent months.
Features from this concept video have been falsely reported by some media outlets as real elements of the rumored Tesla phone. These include solar power, Neuralink, and connectivity to Mars. This technology is far from what we currently have. Although they might be in Musk’s sights, such features are unavailable on a potential Tesla phone, as of the publication date.
How the Tesla Pi phone rumor came to be
The rumor that Tesla has been developing smartphones has been floating around online for several years. Elon Musk has, time and again, debunked the rumor, suggesting he had no intentions of developing phones.
On September 14, 2020, Musk tweeted that “Smartwatches & phones are yesterdays technology, Neuralinks are the future.” This was in response to a news outlet reporting that Tesla had a smartphone in the works. Check out Musk’s shutdown below:
But in November this year, Musk’s tune changed, after tensions between the Twitter chief executive and Apple brewed.
After it was rumored by Tech Advisor that Apple and Google might remove the Twitter app from their respective app stores, Musk proposed a solution. “If there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone,” Musk tweeted on November 25, 2022.
Tesla phone looks off the cards as Elon Musk meets with Apple
Although Elon Musk suggested that he could make “an alternative phone” to the Apple and Google smartphones that dominate the market, it looks like that is off the cards.
Five days after the rumor surfaced that Apple was to remove Twitter from the App Store, Musk visited Tim Cook at Apple’s HQ and cleared the air.
“Good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so,” Musk tweeted, along with a video of “Apple’s beautiful HQ.”
With no need for an alternative phone to be developed now, it is likely Musk has returned to his stance that “Neuralinks are the future.” This has always been the billionaire business magnates end goal, with smartphones being a minor detour.
How long does a real phone take to develop?
If Elon Musk decided Tesla were to make a real phone, it wouldn’t be released this month, that’s for certain. Some media outlets have falsely reported that the rumored Tesla Pi phone is releasing this December, however, this appears to be false.
The development of the Tesla phone would not be an overnight operation, as phones take years to manufacture. Even Apple, which is consistently releasing new iPhones, took five years to develop its iPhone X.
As Elon Musk debunked the smartphone rumor just two years ago, it looks unlikely that a real Tesla phone will be on the market for a while – if ever.
