The smartphone has been the centerpiece of personal technology for nearly two decades, shaping the way we work, communicate and consume information — but that reign may be coming to an end. As artificial intelligence rapidly makes its way into everyday life, early signs suggest a new kind of device is on the horizon. Instead of the familiar glass touchscreen and apps, the next era of smart tech will likely favor something more hands-free and intuitive, able to blend seamlessly into our daily routines.
Major tech companies like OpenAI, Meta, Amazon and Google are investing billions in the race to design the next breakthrough form factor, knowing full well that whoever pulls it off could achieve the same level of dominance Apple has enjoyed with the iPhone — and very likely reap massive financial rewards. Ideas range from smart glasses and earbuds to neural implants and electronic tattoos.The big question now is whether any of these AI-native gadgets will truly dethrone the smartphone, or if they’ll simply be relegated to the scrap heap alongside past failed attempts.
What’s Wrong With the Smartphone?
Forecasters have been predicting the “death of the smartphone” since the early 2000s, years before the iPhone even hit the market. Back then, they envisioned a future where everyone had BlackBerrys and stylus-wielding Palm Pilots in their back pockets. Instead we have thin slabs of glass and metal — a design that has reigned supreme for more than two decades, with Apple claiming a big chunk of the market, celebrating its three billionth iPhone sold in July 2025. These doom cycles pop up regularly but rarely last long, usually revealing themselves to be an overhyped marketing campaign conveniently tied to some new, “revolutionary” product that will “change everything as we know it.”
But this time feels different: The smartphone market has plateaued, which isn’t such a bad thing. After a pandemic-induced slump, followed by an underwhelming rebound, sales were 19 percent lower in 2024 than they were in 2017. Incremental upgrades no longer excite users, who are holding onto their devices a lot longer than before and increasingly turning to refurbished alternatives instead of buying new. More importantly, the classic smartphone design is falling out of step with the rapid evolution of AI.
Without a doubt, smartphones remain unmatched as all-purpose devices But when it comes to fully harnessing the full capabilities of artificial intelligence, they’re quite limited. Voice commands, hand gestures and ambient computing that anticipates user intent are far better suited to AI’s strengths, yet they’re being forced into rigid channels like apps and interfaces made exclusively for touch — an issue experts call the “AI body problem.” AI’s potential lies in its ability to facilitate more natural, intuitive interactions; it is built on systems that are inherently probabilistic and adaptive. And devices like smartphones and laptops aren’t designed to handle that.
For now, the smartphone still reigns. But a new generation of AI-native devices could be coming for the throne.
The Push for AI-Native Devices
The next wave of AI-native tech is already taking shape with OpenAI’s $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive’s startup, io. Ive, the former chief design officer at Apple, is responsible for some of the company’s most iconic designs, from the translucent, colorfully-backed iMac of the ‘90s to today’s gold-standard iPhone. Now, he’s tasked with imagining the next generation-defining device, much like he’s done in the past.
Ive and OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman are positioning their collaboration as the first step to creating an entirely new family of hardware, devices built from the ground up to align with how AI works, rather than just incremental upgrades to existing phones. And they’re not alone. Meta is working to make smart glasses a thing again after years of years of false starts from both itself and Google, who is also making another run at it. And Amazon is exploring a clip-on device that can be worn like a pendant.
Ousting the smartphone with an AI-centric device isn’t a new concept, but recent attempts show just how difficult the challenge really is.
Humane’s AI Pin, which launched in late 2023, was touted as a screen-free wearable that could project information onto the palm of your hand. But it was plagued by overheating issues, an illegible greenlit laser projector and a near-total lack of integration with everyday apps — no Google Maps, no WhatsApp, no Spotify — leaving the techie brooch feeling more like a demo than a daily companion. Early users found it to be a cumbersome and “annoying” device with sluggish responses, inconsistent outputs and “a UX disaster” that could only be relied upon to tell the time. Youtube reviewer Marques Brownlee called it “the worst product I’ve ever reviewed.” The steep $699 price tag paired with a $24 monthly subscription didn’t help either.
Another cautionary tale is Rabbit’s R1, a bright orange, pocket-sized handheld device launched in early 2024. It was marketed as an “AI assistant,” capable of performing tasks in response to natural language cues, but its $199 price tag quickly lost appeal, with Wired labeling it “one of the biggest flops” of the year. Reviews highlighted its dependence on cloud connectivity, frequent crashes and a confusing premise to begin with: Why carry a separate device to do things your smartphone already handles? Rabbit also leaned on partnerships with third-party apps, but many were limited or non-functional at launch, making the R1 even more pointless.
Without reliability, speed or natural assimilation into our everyday tech-dependent routines, any AI-native device that hits the market will likely be doomed to novelty status. Many have attempted to succeed, but it remains to be seen whether anyone can create something that delivers what the smartphone cannot.
What Kinds of Devices Are in Development?
Here are a few of the latest on AI-native devices tech companies have in the works.
OpenAI’s Mystery Device
Backed by over $1 billion in funding from SoftBank, OpenAI and Ive’s design studio LoveForm are reportedly developing a pocket-sized, screenless device. The gadget will run on OpenAI’s models, using voice and ambient interaction instead of traditional displays. CEO Sam Altman described the context-aware, hands-free companion as a third core gadget (serving as more of a complement to laptops and smartphones rather than any sort of replacement), and an attempt to rethink human-computer interaction for the AI era in the same way the iPhone redefined mobile computing.
While we don’t know much more about the mystery device, reports suggest it will include natural materials and minimal interfaces, with speculation that the product could debut as early as 2026. “It’s so beautiful,” Altman teased, “a case would be a crime.”
Meta’s Orion AR Glasses
Meta is doubling down on augmented reality glasses as the fittest form factor for AI, with Orion serving as its flagship prototype. The lightweight, wireless system weighs just 100 grams, blending cyber-physical worlds through eye-tracking, hand- and room-tracking cameras, microphones, speakers and Wi-Fi connectivity. It’s paired with a compact EMG wristband that senses subtle muscle signals to enable hands-free gestures and haptic feedback. A separate “compute puck,” designed to slip into your pocket or bag, takes on the processing workload, while its lenses offer a 70-degree field of view with silicon-carbide optics and micro-LED projectors, remaining transparent so others can still see the wearer’s eyes and expressions.
Running Meta AI, Orion can identify objects, suggest actions, manage video calls and juggle multiple AR apps simultaneously, from holographic projections to mixed reality. It’ll remain a developer-only prototype in 2026, but will also act as a stepping stone to a more refined consumer-ready model — codenamed Artemis — slated for a 2027 launch, with pricing expected to align with high-end smartphones and laptops.
Amazon’s Bee AI Wearable
Amazon recently acquired Bee, a startup behind a palm-sized wearable AI device that records and transcribes conversations in real time, generating context-aware summaries, reminders and action items. Priced at $49.99, the device features dual microphones with noise filtering, a modular, discreet design that can be worn as a wristband, clip or pendant and a battery life of up to seven days. Bee integrates with calendars, task managers and other apps while supporting up to 40 languages.
Beyond Bee, Amazon has rolled out its AI-software suite of Nova models, AI-accelerator Trainium chips, a shopping chatbot and Bedrock, a marketplace for third-party AI models. This comes after the discontinuation of its Halo health tracker, though Echo smart glasses remain part of the lineup. Additionally, virtual assistant Alexa and Ring video doorbells have both received major AI overhauls.
Apple’s AI Hardware Strategy
Apple is reportedly retooling its devices to put AI at their core, with plans to weave advanced AI capabilities across its entire device lineup. As CEO Tim Cook explained, “We are embedding it across our devices and platforms and across the company,” calling AI “one of the most profound technologies of our lifetime.” This shift includes more capable Siri — now drawing on Apple Intelligence to offer richer language understanding, visual intelligence tools like Live Translation, Image Playground and ChatGPT integration — and hints at upcoming AI-powered hardware. Apple is also doubling down on the infrastructure needed to support it, investing in a 250,000 square foot AI server factory in Houston, set to open by 2026, and expanding on-device processing with private cloud compute.
Cook knows they won’t be first to build an AI-native device. But then again they never have been first at anything. As he pointed out in a recent company-wide meeting, there was a PC before the Mac, MP3 players before the iPod and a smartphone before the iPhone. And if there’s a way to accelerate — such as an acquisition — they’ll do it. “This is sort of ours to grab.”
Google’s Gemini-Powered Devices
Google is embedding its family of Gemini multimodal AI models — capable of handling text, code, images, audio and video — into its hardware ecosystem. At its 2025 “Made by Google” showcase, the company unveiled Gemini for Home, a next-generation assistant that replaces Google Assistant on Nest speakers and smart displays, bringing real-time reasoning, richer language understanding and expert advice through Gemini Live. The company also announced that it is developing new Android XR glasses that can be used to message friends, offer turn-by-turn directions and offer subtitles to conversations in real-time.
Google isn’t abandoning the smartphone altogether, though. Its Pixel 10 series and Pixel Watch 4 both rely on Gemini 2.0 models paired with the Tensor G5 chip to deliver features like live translation, anticipatory “Magic Cues” and long-context memory. Lighter workloads are handled by the Flash-Lite variant, while Pro powers more advanced reasoning and coding tasks directly on-device.
Gemini is also available through Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, letting developers build on the same models that power consumer devices. The move hints at Google’s broader goal of tying its hardware and software together through Gemini, creating one AI backbone that runs across everything from phones and workplace tools to smart cars and TVs.
Neuralink’s Brain-Computer Implant
Neuralink takes a more invasive approach to AI-native devices than most other companies, creating a brain-computer interface (BCI) that must be surgically implanted under a person’s skull. The coin-sized chip (known as the N1 Implant, or “Link”) is designed to tap into the mind’s motor control areas, allowing users to operate computers and mobile devices with nothing more than their thoughts.
This technology is still in the early experimental stages, with clinical trials involving human patients underway now. For now, it is primarily being touted as a way to help people with neurological diseases or mobility issues. But founder Elon Musk thinks it could eventually be used to enable a more seamless interface between humans and AI, where people are able to control the devices around them without lifting a finger or even speaking.
Emanuelis Norbutas, chief technology officer at Nexos.ai, sees BCIs like the ones being made at Neuralink and elsewhere as the only true successor to smartphones. “Until the day a brain-computer interface actually works and people are ready to use it,” he told Built In, “we’ll still be carrying touchscreens in our pockets.”
What Would It Take to Actually Replace the Smartphone?
Displacing the smartphone isn’t just about implementing AI — it’s about making something so good that we are willing to abandon the beloved, all-purpose glass bricks entirely, which is no small feat.
To pull it off, the device would need to clear several hurdles. For starters, fitting a long-lasting battery into a lightweight wearable is far from trivial; smart wearables that can power real-time AI without running hot or dying after an hour simply don’t exist yet. Connectivity poses another challenge, since people expect devices to be always-on and seamlessly tied into the same messaging, maps, payments and media they already use. Even if the hardware gets there, the economics remain steep. Building something powerful enough to rival the smartphone risks pushing it into luxury pricing, well out of reach for mass adoption.
Layered beneath all of this are privacy concerns. The idea of a device that constantly listens, tracks eye movement or learns your body language over time is already unsettling to many users (and may even be illegal). Let alone one that’s implanted into your brain. And that’s before even touching the most immovable obstacle of all: the entrenched ecosystem of apps, developers and user habits that has been built around smartphones for nearly two decades.
“From my cold, dead hands will you get my smartphone,” Keith Shaw, host of Today in Tech, paraphrased a widely shared sentiment in conversation with International Data Corporation analyst Ramon Llamas.
“Whatever that alternative device is going to be … it also has to bring to the table something you just can’t have on a smartphone,” Llamas said. “Otherwise there’s no sense in having that.”
That’s why many experts believe that the next big tech leap won’t come from stacking features on top of what we already have, but from removing friction — earbuds that can translate conversations in real-time, for example, or glasses that offer turn-by-turn directions. Selin Dursun, a Bay Area creative technologist and Harvard University grad, doesn’t see the smartphone’s replacement as something you pin and forget. “It will be something so seamlessly present, you barely notice it; yet it understands you completely,” she told Built In. An ambient AI system that lives in your ear, your home and your car, anticipating your intent without you ever needing to tap a screen. The “interface” will fade, and the “OS” may disappear altogether.
“Long story short, I think new AI devices won’t replace the phone,” Dursun said, “it’ll replace the need to reach for one.”
Still, the technology isn’t there yet. Glasses, earbuds and watches buckle under battery limits and still rely heavily on the smartphone for both computing power and connectivity. As much as pioneering developers might try, no device has managed to cross the threshold from neat prototype to necessary daily companion.
So, unless and until AI-native devices are able to stand entirely on their own — with speed, reliability and a clear reason to exist — the smartphone will likely stay at the center of the tech universe.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are AI-first devices?
AI-first (or AI-native) devices are products that integrate and leverage artificial intelligence from the ground up, using AI to process data and enable more seamless human-computer interactions without traditional input methods like touchscreens. Relying on things like sensors, cameras and microphones, they’re designed to anticipate and respond to users’ needs in real time, providing a more intuitive, hands-free experience. Examples include smart glasses and other wearables, as well as brain-computer interfaces.
Could AI-first devices replace smartphones?
AI-first devices have the potential to replace smartphones, but they face some significant challenges. Though they promise more intuitive, hands-free interactions through features like voice commands and augmented reality, issues related to their battery life and connectivity persist. Plus, smartphones are deeply ingrained in everyday life. Any AI-first device looking to outright replace them would need to offer clear, compelling advantages in both functionality and user experience.
