The latest rumors about the Tesla Phone!

When we talk about Tesla, we're talking about research and innovation. When the first rumors about a possible Tesla phone surfaced, the first thing many people thought was that the iPhone would have new competition. But is this true?

Sometimes the internet seems to believe that if you want something bad enough, it will exist. And it seems that what the internet wants now is a Tesla phone. The web is flooded with design concepts and purported specifications for a phone that some claim will seriously rival Apple's iPhone. Some sites even insist that the Tesla phone will go on sale on December 1, as if it were an irrefutable fact.

Is everything said about the Tesla Phone true?

Probably not, but we've seen some cool concepts, and it's fun to imagine Elon Musk might unveil a smartphone, even if it's just a replica of the rumored Apple Car.

So far, Tesla hasn't given any hint that it's working on a Tesla phone. For some companies, that doesn't rule out the possibility, as tech giants tend to keep their projects secret, but Tesla often offers sneak peeks at things it's working on, including the much-mocked Tesla robot.

There were many rumors that the phone would be available in December 2022, and we all know what really happened. If we recall back in 2020, Elon Musk said a phone wasn't in the cards... but knowing Musk, anything could happen.

Elon Musk and the consequences of the Twitter purchase.

After purchasing Twitter and appointing himself CEO, Elon Musk introduced some (generously) controversial changes to the site and its rules. His goal is to make Twitter a place where his ideas of free speech are allowed, which ultimately resulted in granting "amnesty" to previously banned accounts of white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and others who violated Twitter's old terms of service.

Following all this, Musk claimed in a tweet that Apple has "threatened to remove Twitter from its App Store," but didn't say why. The Twitter CEO also stated that Apple has "mostly stopped advertising" on the social network, but he also doesn't know why. Apparently, the richest man in the world can't understand why a company like Apple would want to cautiously distance itself from the gasoline it's pouring on Twitter.

The Tesla Phone: The Origin of the Rumor

In response to a tweet from podcaster Liz Wheeler, Musk said that if Apple and Google removed Twitter from their app stores, he would... make an "alternative phone." There was no shortage of comments under his tweet encouraging him, saying it would be a great idea. After all, Elon Musk makes rockets, electric cars, and the like... is a simple smartphone a real challenge for the South African mogul?

The Apple and Google duopoly

Elon Musk seems to believe that Apple and Google have a "duopoly" in the smartphone market. Although both companies control a large part of the sector, they are by no means the only ones making successful smartphones. Samsung, Tecno, Huawei, Motorola, Oppo, OnePlus, and many others make some of the most popular devices in the world. However, they haven't made inroads in the United States and Europe (with Samsung being the exception) in the same way that Apple and Google have. In Asia and Africa, however, the story is completely different.

As a starting point, Musk is starting from a place of incomprehension resulting from being only partially informed about the smartphone industry, a place he seems quite comfortable in. Simply put, Elon Musk's future smartphone wouldn't have to compete solely with Apple and Google. It would have to compete with a global market filled with excellent devices made by established companies that are constantly innovating in this sector.

Not all that glitters is gold.

Considering his disappointing success at a good portion of the companies he owns—such as internal reports of Twitter's potential imminent bankruptcy, the Boring Company's general lack of results, and Neuralink's ridiculous proposal for a $10 million implant surgery—there's no real precedent for a phone made by a Musk-owned company being successful. Obviously, Tesla's success is the exception to that, but Tesla seems to operate better outside of Musk's influence. Musk tends to overpromise with all of his companies, including Tesla, which generally makes the company look evil and like it's at the whim of a child spewing ideas at every turn.

Musk's only legitimate point is that Apple and Google have a sort of suffocation in the app store market on iOS and Android. If they removed Twitter from their platforms, the app would quickly die, as most users would abandon ship and go to the plethora of social media apps on the stores.

If that were to happen, Musk would supposedly have some company start working on an "alternative smartphone" that would boast Twitter as its main feature. By that point, however, Twitter would be completely dead in the water—except for its browser users, made up of die-hard Elon Musk fans—so it would hardly be a selling point for a general audience who would have already moved on to new apps.

The Tesla Phone and its great challenge.

Musk/Tesla's phone would still have to compete with the rest of the smartphone market to succeed, and commit to the multi-million dollar, multi-year process of making a new phone (with an entirely new operating system and app store), something Google and Apple already have more than a decade's head start on.

There have been many single-led smartphone companies that have presented themselves as alternatives to Apple and Google—such as Carl Pei with Nothing—but they remain niche products that don't seriously compete in the way they were intended.

Microsoft tried to forge its own path with Windows Phone years ago, but the project failed after less than 10 years. If Microsoft couldn't do it, what reason is there to think Musk could?

The Tesla Phone would be a real risk

For Musk, asking his fans to part with their iPhones, Pixels, and Galaxy phones to buy his new smartphone would be a huge financial outlay.

While Musk has an extraordinarily dedicated core following, it's almost certainly not enough to support a newcomer to the mobile industry, let alone one that rivals Apple and Google. Given the prominence of both companies in the US market, it would be a significant financial strain for Musk to ask his fans to part with their iPhones, Pixels, and Galaxy phones to buy his new smartphone.

Elon Musk's long history of defeats.

Musk has long made promises that sound good to his fans. But these promises often never materialize. More than ten years ago, he promised that humans would be walking on Mars by now, something that, as far as I know, hasn't happened yet. Likewise, this whole phone thing certainly seems like more smoke than mirrors.

Currently, Musk seems somewhat tied to losing money on Twitter, so it seems unlikely he'll jump headlong into the smartphone industry, even if Apple and Google were to remove them from their app stores. It seems like a much easier and cheaper solution would simply be to follow the companies' app store rules regarding hate speech and adult content. But the truth is, Elon Musk has always been known for being extremely unpredictable.