TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has updated his industry survey to suggest that OpenAI may be accelerating development of its first AI agent phone — a device where an intelligent agent performs tasks for the user — with a target for mass production as soon as the first half of 2027. MediaTek is now the most likely candidate to exclusively land the processor order, with the chip expected to be a custom version of the Dimensity 9600, manufactured by TSMC on its N2P process in the second half of 2026.
This is a more aggressive timeline than Kuo revealed last week, which had MediaTek and Qualcomm both involved in processor development, Luxshare as the exclusive system co-design and manufacturing partner, and mass production set for 2028. The key changes are the earlier production date and the narrowing of chip suppliers. Kuo believes the acceleration could be driven by OpenAI's desire to improve its year-end IPO narrative and intensifying competition in the AI agent phone space.
On specs, Kuo says the phone's ISP will be enhanced for high dynamic range output to support real-world visual perception. Other key features include a dual NPU architecture (splitting AI computation into different intensity layers), LPDDR6 + UFS 5.0 (to ease memory and storage bottlenecks), and pKVM with inline hashing (for security isolation and data integrity). If development goes smoothly, Kuo expects combined shipments of around 30 million units in 2027 and 2028.