Deutsche Telekom's unveils new app-less smartphone OS

By Matthew Griffin Intelligence and the Senses 1st April 2025

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Agentic AI, agents that do whatever it is you want them to do, could replace the smartphone OS and that’s a problem for Google’s play store.

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Deutsche Telekom is building a new Perplexity chatbot-powered “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Phone,” the companies announced at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona today. The new device will be revealed later this year and run “Magenta AI,” which gives users access to Perplexity Assistant, Google Cloud AI, ElevenLabs, Picsart, and a suite of AI tools.

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The AI phone concept was first revealed at MWC 2024 by Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile’s parent company) as an “App-less device” primarily controlled by voice that can do things like book flights and make restaurant reservations. The capabilities are like those promised by Large Action Model (LAM) products, including the Rabbit R1. In a press release, Deutsche Telekom board member Claudia Nemat says the forthcoming AI phone with Perplexity Assistant can book a taxi and do your shopping without having to switch apps on your phone.

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Some of the AI tools, including Perplexity’s AI-powered search engine, will also be available on other devices using the MeinMagenta app. Deutsche Telekom hasn’t said much else about the AI phone hardware, but the images show something of a budget to midrange Android device with thick forehead and chin bezels, as well as a pink sleep and wake button. The company plans to launch its AI phone in the second half of this year.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.