T-Mobile’s Parent Is Creating An AI Phone With Perplexity

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The smartphone landscape of 2025 has every major brand promoting the benefits of artificial intelligence. Yet outside of Google’s integration of its Gemini assistant within Pixel devices, other AI companies haven’t made substantial hardware advancements in this space—until now.

T-Mobile’s parent company has unveiled plans for an “AI Phone,” which is under development in collaboration with Perplexity. This AI firm, backed by investors including Nvidia and Jeff Bezos, will make its proprietary AI features available on this device.

Similar to the integrations of Google’s Gemini and Apple’s Siri, users of the upcoming AI Phone will have access to Perplexity across various functions, including the ability to use the assistant from the Lock Screen.

We are proud to partner with @deutschetelekom to make Perplexity Assistant the native feature on their new AI Phone. pic.twitter.com/rYwsuySLW4

— Perplexity (@perplexity_ai) March 3, 2025

Alongside Perplexity, the device will also feature Google Cloud AI, Picsart, and ElevenLabs. ElevenLabs recently partnered with Spotify and has launched a free publishing platform that allows for the quick creation of audiobooks utilizing AI technology.

The phone will include a dedicated Magenta AI app to access Google Cloud for vision-based AI capabilities, ElevenLabs for converting uploaded content into podcasts, and Picsart for generating creative images.

Perplexity will bring a range of functions to the AI Phone, including voice commands, translations, and answering questions by sourcing information directly from the internet.

Interestingly, the Perplexity integration may also provide some level of autonomy. According to Deutsche Telekom, the AI assistant could assist with shopping and email composition without requiring users to switch between different applications.

Details are still scarce on how this AI assistant will efficiently perform tasks, but we do have some precedents. OpenAI has recently unveiled Operator, a tool capable of handling tasks like booking tickets or ordering food, while Google’s Gemini utilizes extensions to manage duties across various platforms.

Deutsche Telekom has announced that the Perplexity-driven AI phone is set for a launch in the latter half of 2025, with a retail price anticipated to be under $1,000 and availability projected for some point in 2026.