Reality Check
Is the Tesla Phone Real? What Tesla and Musk Have Said
Quick answer
No. Tesla has never announced or sold a phone, and the "Tesla Pi Phone" in viral videos traces back to a 2021 fan concept by designer Antonio De Rosa. Elon Musk has said he would build a phone only if Apple and Google left him no choice, and in February 2026 he wrote, "We are not developing a phone." SpaceX's Starlink Mobile is a satellite service for ordinary phones.
On this page
Search for "Tesla phone" and you get a wall of videos: a sleek handset, a Tesla logo, a price and a release date. The phone looks finished. The company behind it has never announced it, according to every source I could find. This guide separates the few facts from the many clips and lays out what Elon Musk has actually said about building a phone.
I took each fact below from named reports, fact-checks and Musk's own posts as those outlets quote them, all read on October 30, 2026. When a remark reaches me only through a news outlet, the text names that outlet. Every source is listed under the FAQ.
Is the Tesla phone real?
No. Tesla has not announced, shown or sold a phone. Snopes put it plainly in September 2025: Musk "has occasionally suggested that the company might produce a mobile phone, but Tesla has never announced such a product." The pictures in the viral videos are fan concept art, and the prices and release dates attached to them come from pages that made them up.
Where does the "Tesla Pi Phone" come from?
From a designer's portfolio. In February 2021, the Italian designer Antonio De Rosa, known for his Apple product concepts, published a video of a "Model Pi" (also called "Model P") smartphone that pays homage to Tesla and SpaceX's Starlink. The concept listed a native Starlink connection, a link to Neuralink, mining for the Mars-themed cryptocurrency Marscoin and four camera lenses. That is a wish list, not a spec sheet.
The Mobile Internet Resource Center, a site that covers satellite internet, wrote in November 2021 that a disclaimer sat under the video and on every image of De Rosa's site. It added that every few months a "less than reputable" site or YouTube channel ran a story about Musk announcing a phone, using his images with the disclaimer cropped out and no link to the original. It called the phone "NOT REAL."
De Rosa was not alone. Teslarati notes that the designer Jonas Daehnert drew a Cybertruck-inspired phone back in December 2019. Concept art is easy to make, easy to love and easy to repost without its label, which is how a drawing becomes a "leak."
What has Elon Musk actually said about a phone?
Several things, and they point in different directions, which is why the rumor never dies. Here is the record, from the most conditional remark to the flattest denial.
| When | Where | What he said |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 25, 2022 | X (then Twitter), replying to a post that he should build a phone if Apple and Google dropped Twitter from their app stores | "I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone." |
| Oct. 2024 | A Pennsylvania town hall, as reported by Benzinga | "The idea of making a phone makes me want to die." |
| Oct. 2025 | The Joe Rogan Experience, as reported by Benzinga | "I'm not working on a phone." |
| Jan. 30, 2026 | X, replying to a post that a "Starlink phone would be so sick" | "Not out of the question at some point. It would be a very different device than current phones. Optimized purely for running max performance/watt neural nets." |
| Early Feb. 2026 | X, after a Reuters report that SpaceX was exploring a phone | "We are not developing a phone." |
Musk's public remarks about a phone. Sources: Teslarati, Benzinga (via Finviz and Yahoo Tech), TechRadar and Light Reading, listed at the end.
Read in order, it is a conditional yes, some reluctance, then two denials with one door left open. That door is a device Musk describes as nothing like today's phones. On the Rogan show he went further, according to TechRadar: "We're not going to have a phone in the traditional sense. What we'll call a phone will really be an edge node for AI inference with some radios to connect."
My read: a prediction about the future of phones is not a product announcement, and "not out of the question at some point" costs nothing to say and commits to nothing. None of these remarks mentions a name, a price or a date, and those are the three things the viral videos are full of.
Has Tesla itself ever announced a phone?
No, and Snopes has checked twice. In June 2024 it traced a "Woke Apple" story, in which Musk supposedly announced a phone to beat the iPhone, to a site whose own disclaimer calls such articles satire. In September 2025 it looked at a Facebook story claiming Tesla had launched a $789 "Pi Phone" with free Starlink. That post had more than 170,000 likes.
Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no credible news outlet reporting a Tesla phone. Snopes concluded that whoever wrote the story fabricated it, likely to earn advertising revenue on the websites linked from the posts. It also said it had asked Tesla and not heard back. Every report I found for this article traces back to Musk's remarks or to concept art, never to a Tesla announcement or product page.
The prices do not even agree with each other. Pages I saw while searching promised the phone for $179, $235 and $799, and the Facebook story Snopes checked said $789. A product with a real price has one price.
| Claim in the videos | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| Tesla announced a phone | Never announced (Snopes) |
| The phone has a price and a release date | Prices differ from page to page; no company source |
| Musk confirmed it | He has said he is not developing one (Feb. 2026) |
| Starlink built into a phone | A feature of the 2021 concept; SpaceX works with T-Mobile on a satellite service for existing phones |
What is real in the Pi Phone story and what is not. Compiled from the sources at the end.
Is SpaceX making a Starlink phone instead?
Not a handset, as far as anyone has shown. In February 2026, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources, that SpaceX had considered a Starlink-branded phone. Musk answered "We are not developing a phone," and added that "Reuters lies relentlessly," according to Light Reading.
What SpaceX is building is a mobile service. Euronews reports a partnership with T-Mobile that brings Starlink access to existing smartphones. Light Reading says SpaceX filed for the trademarks "Starlink Mobile" and "Powered by Starlink" in the fall of 2025 and agreed to buy spectrum from EchoStar for $17 billion, and that a trademark filing is not a commitment to build anything.
In a report dated June 29, 2026, Advanced Television quotes Musk saying that "the phones that are able to use the spectrum we acquired will probably start shipping in around two years," and that SpaceX would work with handset makers to add the right frequencies. The headline calls it a phone plan, but the text describes a service and other companies' phones. On October 29, the FCC voted to open a public comment period on adding 482 MHz to satellite-to-phone service. Teslarati, citing Reuters, notes that the vote "does not hand any spectrum to SpaceX."
That matters because the fake videos borrow real pieces. Starlink exists. Neuralink exists. A satellite service for phones is coming. Stitching them into one handset with a price tag is the only invented step.
How can you tell a fake Tesla phone video?
Run the same checks as for any too-good-to-be-true gadget. I list all eight in my checklist for judging gadget videos. For the Tesla phone, three do most of the work:
- Find the maker's page. A real Tesla product lives on Tesla's own site, with a price in its shop. A page that only shows a video and a "pre-order" form is not Tesla's.
- Look for the label. Concept art usually carries a note that it is a concept. If the image has been cropped, search for the original.
- Check who benefits. Snopes pointed to advertising revenue. If the page is mostly ads and a clickbait headline, the story is the product.
It also helps to know that vaporware usually has a record. The Roadster is a useful comparison: Tesla promised it for 2020 and is still delaying it, but it announced the car in public. A phone Tesla has never announced is a different case. I would not put money down for anything with a Tesla logo that Tesla itself does not list.
Could Tesla or SpaceX make a phone someday?
Nobody outside the companies can rule it out, and Musk has said as much. But the one design direction he has described is an AI device that looks nothing like the concept art, with no apps and no operating system. Gadgets that tried to replace the phone have a hard record: see my article on the Humane AI Pin shutdown. Real phone innovation is also slow and expensive, as the tri-fold phones show, where only Huawei sells one today. Smart glasses are the other real attempt at life after the phone, and several models are on sale now.
My read: treat a Tesla or SpaceX phone as a possibility with no date. When one appears, it will come with a page on a company website and a price in a shop, and every major tech outlet will cover it in the same hour. Until then, the Pi Phone is a drawing.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Tesla Pi Phone real?
No. Snopes says Tesla has never announced a phone. The "Pi Phone" images come from a 2021 concept by the Italian designer Antonio De Rosa, who labeled his work as a homage to Tesla.
Did Elon Musk say he would build a phone?
Only on a condition. In November 2022 he wrote that if there was no other choice, he would make an alternative phone, after a post about Apple and Google removing Twitter from their app stores. In early February 2026 he wrote, "We are not developing a phone."
Where do the Tesla Pi Phone pictures come from?
They come from the "Model Pi" concept that De Rosa published in February 2021, with a disclaimer on every image. Other sites later reposted the pictures with the disclaimer cropped out, according to the Mobile Internet Resource Center.
What about the $789 Tesla Pi Phone with free Starlink?
Snopes found that a September 2025 Facebook story about it had no credible news coverage behind it and concluded that the story was fabricated, likely to earn advertising revenue.
Is SpaceX making a Starlink phone?
Reuters reported in February 2026 that SpaceX had explored one, and Musk answered that SpaceX is not developing a phone. SpaceX is building Starlink Mobile, a satellite service for ordinary phones, and the FCC began a public comment process on more spectrum on October 29, 2026.
Can I pre-order a Tesla phone?
No, because Tesla has not announced one, so there is nothing to order. A page that takes a deposit for one is not selling a Tesla product. The checks in my fake gadget video guide are the ones to run before you pay anything.
Could Tesla make a phone in the future?
Musk has said a Starlink phone is "not out of the question at some point" and would be "a very different device than current phones." That is a possibility with no plan, no date and no price attached.
Sources
- Snopes (via Yahoo News Canada): Tesla didn't release "Pi Phone" with Starlink capability (Sept. 25, 2025), read Oct. 30, 2026
- Snopes: Elon Musk Launching Cellphone to Compete with 'Woke Apple'? (June 11, 2024), read Oct. 30, 2026
- iPhone in Canada: Designer Imagines Tesla 'Model Pi' Smartphone Concept (Feb. 3, 2021), read Oct. 30, 2026
- Mobile Internet Resource Center: The Starlink Connected Tesla Model P (Pi) Smartphone is NOT REAL! (Nov. 23, 2021), read Oct. 30, 2026
- Teslarati: Elon Musk to make alternative smartphone if Apple or Google bans Twitter (Nov. 27, 2022), read Oct. 30, 2026
- Benzinga (via Finviz): Elon Musk says 'very different' AI-first phone is 'not out of the question' (Jan. 2026), read Oct. 30, 2026
- Benzinga (via Yahoo Tech): Elon Musk says in 5 years we won't have phones (Jan. 5, 2026), read Oct. 30, 2026
- Light Reading: Musk denies SpaceX is developing a Starlink phone (Feb. 6, 2026), read Oct. 30, 2026
- TechRadar: Is Starlink really making a phone? (Feb. 6, 2026), read Oct. 30, 2026
- Euronews: Is Elon Musk's SpaceX launching a Starlink smartphone? (Feb. 9, 2026), read Oct. 30, 2026
- Advanced Television: Musk confirms Starlink phone plan (June 29, 2026), read Oct. 30, 2026
- Teslarati: FCC green lights SpaceX's move to a showdown with Verizon and AT&T (Oct. 29, 2026), read Oct. 30, 2026
Founder and editor, Novaverum
I write Novaverum to separate the technology you can really buy from the demos, concepts and viral fakes, starting from what the companies, regulators and engineers publish. Every article lists its sources at the end.
