Elon Musk Rejects Rumors Of A Tesla Phone, But Says The EV Giant Will Have To Make One If This Happens

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said on Monday that the company is not considering building a phone, refuting rumors.

What Happened: “No, we are not doing a phone,” Musk said in a podcast with Joe Rogan published on Monday. However, it is not because the company can’t do it, the CEO said.

“We could do a phone since like the operating system in Tesla – it’s Linux-based – but we have written a massive amount of software on top of that. So probably Tesla is in a better position to create a new phone that’s not Android or iPhone than maybe any company in the world but it is not something we want to do unless we have to,” Musk said.

The company will have to make a phone if Apple or Google start censoring apps or acting like “gatekeepers,” the CEO added.

Tesla currently has its “plate full” with its efforts into electric vehicles, enabling autonomous driving, and robotics, Musk said while adding that making a phone would be “a huge pain the ass.”

Why It Matters: Musk first hinted at making a phone in November 2022, following his acquisition of Twitter, now rebranded as X, amidst uncertainty about the microblogging platform’s status on mainstream app stores.

Musk in June gave mixed signals about the company’s plans to make a phone. One day he announced in a live stream on X that Tesla was not going to make a phone.

Two days later, the CEO said that his tech company X manufacturing a phone running on a custom open-source operating system in partnership with another smartphone maker is "not out of the question."

Musk later clarified that Tesla could make a phone but he hopes that it is not “needed.”

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