Elon Musk confirms if Tesla is making a smartphone to rival Apple and Google

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has sat down for a lengthy discussion on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, where he touched on the rumors that Tesla is developing a smartphone behind closed doors.

It has been long rumored that Tesla is developing a smartphone that will separate itself from the duopoly of operating systems, Android and iOS. However, these rumors have been just that, rumors, and have mostly been unfounded or simply murmurings. In fact, Musk has brought up the topic before as the Tesla CEO said in November 2022 that if Apple and Google decided to "boot" then-Twitter, and now X, from its respective app stores, Musk said there would be no other choice but to "make an alternative phone.

Now, on a recent episode of the JRE podcast, Musk was asked if there is any credibility to these rumors, or if he has ever considered making a smartphone. Musk responded quickly by saying, "No, we aren't doing a phone". When asked if he had ever thought about making one, Musk said, "We could do a phone. The operating system of a Tesla is Linux-based, but we have written a massive of software on top of that."

Musk added, "Probably Tesla is in a better position to create a new phone that's not Android or iPhone than maybe any company in the world. But, it's not something we want to do unless we have to."

Joe Rogan followed up by asking Musk what scenario would have to take place where Tesla would have to make a phone. Musk responded by saying, "If Apple and Google/Android starting doing really bad things, like censoring apps, or being like gatekeepers."