Many videos and articles have spread that Tesla is preparing to launch Pi Phone to directly compete with iPhone 17, but is that true?

Not long after the iPhone 17 was released, Facebook account Trend Fuel suddenly reported that Tesla launched a phone that would completely change the smartphone game and “Apple should be worried”.

A viral post about Tesla’s upcoming Pi Phone, Apple should be worried. (Photo: Facebook)

Accordingly, Tesla announced the Pi Phone for $789, with free Starlink connectivity – allowing global Internet access without SIM or Wi-Fi. Users can go online from the desert to the mountaintop, as long as they are within satellite coverage.

In addition to satellite connectivity, the Pi Phone has also attracted attention with solar charging, Neuralink sync, cryptocurrency mining, and rumors of Tesla car control integration, AI photography, and live TV streaming via SpaceX.

However, all are still just rumors and there is no solid evidence.

For years, social media posts and YouTube videos have claimed that Elon Musk’s company is secretly developing a futuristic smartphone.

As of September 2025, Tesla has not made any official announcements about a phone capable of charging via solar or Starlink.

According to the Economic Times, billionaire Elon Musk himself said that the company does not make phones unless future circumstances force them to do so. Mr. Musk has been asked about smartphones many times. His answer is always consistent: Tesla will only consider making a phone if Apple or Google restricts Tesla apps or services. Currently, Tesla products still work normally on iOS and Android, so there is no reason to launch a separate device.

In a November 2024 podcast, when asked about rumors that Tesla was preparing to release a phone, billionaire Elon Musk affirmed: “No, we are not making a phone.”

However, when asked if he had ever considered doing so, Elon Musk offered an explanation for Tesla’s ability to create a new device: “We could do a phone because we, you know, we like the operating system in Tesla; it’s based on Linux. But we’ve written a huge amount of software on that platform. So Tesla is probably in a better position than any company in the world to create a new phone that’s not Android or iPhone. But that’s not something we want to do, unless we’re forced to or something like that.”

Rumors about the “Tesla Model Pi” began to explode in 2021-2022, when several concept images appeared online and went viral because they fit Tesla’s vision of the future. Some of the rumored features include: Direct Starlink connectivity for signal anywhere in the world; Solar panels built into the device; Neuralink control via a brain-computer interface; MarsCoin mining, which ties into Elon Musk’s vision of colonizing Mars. None of these features have been proven or confirmed by Tesla.

Tesla Phone, But Not “Tesla”

Meanwhile, a number of rugged Tesla-branded phones have appeared on the European and Asian markets, such as the Tesla EXPLR 9 with a 6.3-inch screen and a 5,000 mAh battery. However, this is a product of another company using the Tesla brand under license, unrelated to billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla.

The TESLA EXPLR 9 phone is not from Tesla (of Elon Musk), but belongs to another brand using the name “Tesla”, specializing in producing rugged phones with large capacity batteries and water and dust resistance. (Photo: Tesla.info)

Instead of phones, Tesla and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are focusing on other areas. Such as expanding Starlink to connect to the global satellite internet, researching the possibility of connecting directly to existing smartphones. Tesla is also focusing on electric vehicles, storage batteries and energy solutions.

Analysts say that if Tesla enters the smartphone market, it will have to compete directly with Apple, Samsung and Google — something that does not fit with its current strategy.