The Internet is full of rumors about the possible start of the production of cell phones by Elon Musk under the Tesla brand. It is said that such a phone will be called Tesla Pi. Is this true, or did someone make this news up, or could it be that Elon Musk himself pushed this idea with his tweets. Let’s speculate about that.
What Tesla sells besides cars
In case you didn’t know, Tesla also sells some products besides cars; let me list what Tesla offers:
- Clothing
- Miscellaneous lifestyle items: Tesla model cars, umbrellas, whistles, belt buckles, pots, and glasses
- Perfume, Burnt Hair from Elon Musk Boring company.
- Tesla car accessories.
You have to understand that this is not diversification of Elon Musk’s Tesla revenue; it’s just marketing to make the Tesla brand more recognizable and, at the same time, other companies of the same circle.
Tesla phone when to expect.
Let’s speculate about phones. It’s not a problem to make a phone right now. You can easily order a phone from an OEM/ODM manufacturer; the same Foxconn and other companies will easily make a Tesla phone. But what will be its uniqueness? Maybe you remember there was such a manufacturer of premium phones Vertu; such phones were positioned as premium devices, but except for the price and the encrustation with precious stones, they could not offer anything new in terms of technical capabilities. As a result, the company went bankrupt.
I think that if a Tesla phone were to be created, there would be two versions of such phones.
The first version of the Tesla phone.
Make a small batch of phones so that the phones would be a collector’s item, such a device could be sold dearly, and it would become a collector’s item almost immediately. In this case, it does not make much difference what the phone will be, and most likely, it will be an Android phone. Such an option could be implemented as early as 2023. The first phones could be sold to the buyer with an engraving or certificate.
The second variant of Tesla phones
To enter the phone market with a revolutionary Tesla phone model, but to do that you have to make your ecosystem similar to Apple’s ecosystem. It took Apple 10 years to do this to become the company we know it is today. The opposite example is Nokia, a company with a large smartphone market share, which lost its phone business due to poor management decisions. And even the purchase of Microsoft, Nokia’s mobile division, and the attempt to enter the market with its mobile platform, Microsoft Phone, was unsuccessful. So this option is possible, but it requires a considerable investment and has to offer something different. There is no prerequisite for that, and developing such systems takes at least three to four years. I don’t think Tesla will go in that direction.
Tesla phone design.
There’s no point in talking about design at all. To give you an example, put Apple, Samsung, Motorola, and Xiaomi phones side by side with their screens up; from a distance of 3 feet (1 meter), you won’t be able to tell which company’s phone. Yes, when you pick it up, you’ll be able to tell which phone is nicer to hold. That’s where the design ends. So, whatever Tesla’s design is, it will mean almost nothing. The unique design of the phones is gone along with the buttons; now, the phone is a big screen that you must move your fingers to operate.
New technology in Tesla phones
Well, and a bit about technology, modern phones have reached their peak of development, and if you pay attention to the last three years, there is nothing new in technology. More attention is paid to different auxiliary services, turning the phone into an indispensable device for identification, payment, and information. Thus, there is not much new technology for the Tesla phone. But fictional technology for the Tesla phone cannot be taken seriously. Let me briefly recap what has been invented for the Tesla phone.
Satellite communication is not a new invention; THURAYA is one of the oldest companies operating in this segment. Telephones to work directly with the satellite must have a lot of power; accordingly, their size, especially the thickness, is greater than the phones we are used to. But the satellite link is expensive and is in demand in exceptional cases. You can’t use the Starlink system directly through your phone, you need a ground station, and if you have one, you can connect the internet to any phone.
The Tesla phone is environmentally friendly and will use a built-in solar panel to charge it. It’s not a bad idea, but it’s not realizable in practice for two reasons. The first reason is that if you put a solar panel on the phone, it won’t be able to charge it, and it won’t have enough power. The second reason is that we’re used to carrying the phone in our pockets and there’s no sunlight.
All other theories belong to the realm of science fiction and cannot be realized shortly.
