Home
News
You are here

T-Mobile's app-less phone might go down as an epic fail, but will succeed at smearing the iPhone

By Sebastian Pier

Published: Mar 05, 2025, 10:55 AM

1comment

If you're sick of AI, well, brace yourselves; as the Starks of Winterfell motto goes: "AI is coming". Here, we're going to talk about T-Mobile and how the telco's first AI phone could go down in flames, but it will surely take down the iPhone with it.

What do you mean – a completely AI-driven smartphone? A smartphone that has no apps and that's just operated by the user via voice commands?

Does it sound too outlandish? Too bizarre? To you and me – maybe, yeah. But T-Mobile is once again talking about its concept AI phone.

The AI bubble is growing and growing: strangely enough, it's not like everybody around me is passionate about artificial intelligence features on their smartphone. Yet, that's a multi-billion dollar business: you could say AI is so big that it drives the stock market crazy.

For example, it was an AI model from China (DeepSeek) that caused none other than Nvidia to suffer a staggering 17% decline, losing $589 billion in value – the largest single-day loss ever recorded by a public company. This was in January 2025. Oracle's co-founder and CTO, Larry Ellison, saw his net worth drop by nearly $28 billion, while Nvidia's CEO and co-founder, Jensen Huang, lost close to $21 billion.

For mobile tech end users like you and me, the AI craze means lots of things: AI-driven apps, features that utilize AI, enhancements, innovations, price hikes (AI requires lots of RAM and potent chips), various fees (yeah, it's not 100% free), and whatnot.

Say bye to your phone's apps

T-Mobile's owner doubles down on the AI phone concept. | Image credit – Deutsche Telekom

A year ago, at the MWC 2024 (Mobile World Congress), T-Mobile teased the idea for an app-less phone.

I can tell you that in 5–10 years from now, nobody from us will use apps anymore.

– Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile owner) CEO Tim Hoettges, MWC, February 2024

Yeah, good luck with that, if that means no more TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram apps on people's phones.

It's March 2025 now and T-Mobile just doubles down – this time around, the telco's parent company (Deutsche Telekom) makes promises:

Your next phone may come from T-Mobile with one big edge over current devices

Announced at MWC Barcelona 2025, the AI Phone is being developed in collaboration with AI company Perplexity. The device is expected to launch in Europe in the second half of the year, with a retail release planned for 2026 at a price below $1,000.

The AI Phone's main selling point is its Perplexity-powered assistant, designed to handle tasks like booking reservations, real-time translations, writing emails, and managing schedules – all without requiring users to switch between apps.

Image credit – PhoneArena

Deutsche Telekom promises an intuitive, voice-operated experience that eliminates the need for traditional app navigation. In addition to Perplexity's technology, the device will integrate AI solutions from Google, ElevenLabs and Picsart.

While details on specifications and the operating system remain unclear, concept images suggest the AI Phone will run on Android.

Carrier-made phone for a thousand bucks that doesn't need apps? But… why? It seems that every brand now makes phones with AI features (be it on-device or cloud-based). There's Google Gemini, Galaxy AI, Apple Intelligence, the Far East companies also cram AI in their Xiaomi, Oppo, Huawei, Vivo, Honor flagships…

Okay, the Apple Intelligence was a bad example.

Apple seems unable to catch up

Image credit – Apple

While I don't personally see how T-Mobile is going to convince people to buy their telco-branded AI phone (when they can just go get a Galaxy, or a Pixel and get a ton of AI features), there is one company that can go kick rocks and shouldn't be able to mock T-Mobile's AI phone.

That's Apple and if you're an avid PhoneArena reader, by now you'd know that Apple is lagging behind the competition in the AI race. This shouldn't be a shock to you: virtually everybody in the tech world is talking about it.

Most recently, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman had a pretty devastating piece ("Apple's AI crisis") in his Power On newsletter.

He correctly points out that Siri, which debuted in 2011 as one of the first digital assistants, should have positioned Apple as a leader in AI. Instead, years of stagnation have left it far behind.

Last June, Apple introduced a new AI-powered version of Siri, promising deep integration with user data and improved contextual awareness. But behind the polished promotional videos, the reality was far less impressive. The system barely functioned, and engineers are still racing to complete it by the planned May release.

Apple's broader AI suite – Apple Intelligence (what a humble moniker) – has been equally disappointing. Features like Genmoji, email sorting, voicemail transcriptions, and AI-powered notifications are minor conveniences at best, offering little reason for users to upgrade their devices.

AI is everywhere these days. | Image credit – PhoneArena

Even Apple's attempt to integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT feels like an "afterthought", lacking the fluidity and personalization seen in rival products. Meanwhile, Amazon's revamped Alexa – a truly conversational AI assistant with deep personalization, highlights Apple's shortcomings even further. When T-Mobile's AI phone drops, the contrast will be even harsher, I think.

The delays extend beyond Siri. Apple's AI-powered coding assistant, Swift Assist, has been stuck in development for over a year while Microsoft's Copilot thrives.

Apple's reliance on in-house development has become a liability. While competitors leverage external AI models from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, Apple insists on building its own. This slow and inefficient approach is why Siri won't see a major overhaul until at least 2027… and that's too late.

It's the context that matters

Image credit – Apple

Back to the essential question and T-Mobile's role in this drama. It doesn't matter if T-Mobile's AI phone will flop or sell as hotcakes (my money is on the former, rather than the latter, if you ask me).

It's the context as a whole that matters here. It would be incredibly funny if a telco produces an AI phone, while Apple – the largest company by market cap currently ($3.648 trillion) – can't catch up in the AI race.

Apple Intelligence was meant to be "AI for the rest of us", as Cupertino put it last year, but so far, it's failed to deliver anything meaningful. Without a dramatic shift in strategy, Apple risks becoming irrelevant in an AI-driven world.

Or does it? Is Apple deliberately not entering the AI race? Is that a truly "make-it-or-break-it" type of scenario? Well, it could be – and it's not out of the question that Apple might just go with the "break it" part and not dive deeper in AI. I'll go back to my initial thought and anecdotal observations: people haven't embraced AI and are not obsessing over having AI in their phones at any cost.

Humane AI Pin, a clever gadget that was to replace the smartphone, just shut down after failing to get people's interest.

So, we've got a giants battle here: T-Mobile bets heavy on the AI phone, while Apple seems reluctant to bet it all on AI.

Which side are you on?

View Full Bio

Sebastian, a veteran of a tech writer with over 15 years of experience in media and marketing, blends his lifelong fascination with writing and technology to provide valuable insights into the realm of mobile devices. Embracing the evolution from PCs to smartphones, he harbors a special appreciation for the Google Pixel line due to their superior camera capabilities. Known for his engaging storytelling style, sprinkled with rich literary and film references, Sebastian critically explores the impact of technology on society, while also perpetually seeking out the next great tech deal, making him a distinct and relatable voice in the tech world.