Elon Musk denies WSJ report that SpaceX showed investors a slim AI phone prototype

Elon Musk has denied a Wall Street Journal report that SpaceX showed investors a prototype of a handheld AI device before the company's record breaking initial public offering in June. Musk called the report "utterly false" in a social media post on Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX demonstrated a "handset like prototype" that was "slimmer than an iPhone" and equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. The device would reportedly run a proprietary AI enabled operating system with features powered by xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company.

SpaceX's mobile ambitions and Starlink ties

The report arrives amid growing signals that SpaceX is exploring consumer mobile hardware. Last week, the Financial Times reported that SpaceX chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell told investors the company is considering launching a mobile service in the US that would connect to its Starlink satellite network. Starlink is currently SpaceX's only profitable business. Some analysts have speculated that SpaceX could acquire T-Mobile to accelerate those plans.

• June 2026: SpaceX completes its record breaking IPO, valuing the company at over $200 billion
• February 2026: Musk denied a Reuters report that SpaceX was building a phone for Starlink, saying the company is "not developing a phone"
• 2025: Musk told a Pennsylvania audience that "the idea of making a phone makes me want to die," but added "if we have to make a phone, we will, but we will aspire not to make a phone"
• Starlink is SpaceX's only profitable division, making it the logical source of any new consumer hardware

Musk's long running ambivalence toward phone hardware

Musk has consistently downplayed the likelihood of SpaceX building a phone. His 2025 statement in Pennsylvania made clear that a phone is a last resort, not a priority. The WSJ report also described the prototype's operating system as AI native, potentially positioning it as a direct competitor to existing smartphones but differentiated by deep integration with xAI's Grok model.

Neither SpaceX nor xAI have commented further on the report. The Wall Street Journal did not provide images or additional details about the prototype beyond the chipset, form factor, and software stack. If the report is accurate, the device would represent a bold bet by Musk to sidestep the dominant mobile operating systems from Apple and Google. However, with Musk himself denying the story, the official line remains that SpaceX is not building a phone.