Deutsche Telekom envisions an app-less smartphone future

One of the reasons why Windows Phone failed is because they lacked a rich ecosystem. Without apps, our smartphones would be kind of useless. But this is a concept that Deutsche Telekom is challenging at MWC 2024 with its AI T-phone concept.

The T-phone is a concept phone that was built in collaboration between the carrier, Qualcomm, and Brain. It will be completely powered by AI and will not need to rely on apps. If any company tried to sell us this idea 7-8 years ago, it would be laughable. But the advancement of AI in the past couple of years makes this concept actually plausible.

We rely heavily on apps because our phones by themselves can only do so much. It’s up to developers to come up with ways to take advantage of the software. Thanks to the rise of AI from OpenAI and Google, there are things that the tech can do that ditch the need for apps entirely.

Samsung is trying to demonstrate that with its Galaxy AI in its Galaxy S24 smartphones. Granted, AI in our smartphones is still kind of basic, but there is a lot of potential. According to Deutsche Telekom, some examples they gave include using AI to help buy products, send photos and videos, generate recommendations for travel, and more.

Whether or not we’ll one day live in an app-less future remains to be seen, but the Deutsche Telekom T-phone proposition is pretty intriguing.