One Carrier Thinks You Might Want an 'AI Phone'

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Deutsche Telekom, the German phone carrier and parent company of T-Mobile, has partnered with Perplexity to create an ‘AI Phone’ with AI assistant on the lock screen. It feels like a throwback to carrier bloatware.

Deutsche Telekom revealed the AI Phone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, where we have also seen announcements likeLenovo’s solar-powered laptopand asoccer-themed HMD feature phone. The company didn’t reveal much about the screen, cameras, or other features—just that artificial intelligence is the main attraction. Perplexity’s assistant has been added right to the lock screen, providing one-tap access for questions.

The company said in a press release, “the Perplexity Assistant, released earlier this year, will become the main feature of Deutsche Telekom’s new AI Phone in the course of the year. It processes language, text and images. Creates calendar entries, writes emails, makes summaries and translates content. What’s more, do you need a taxi? Initiate a call? Order food? Do some shopping? No problem. Perplexity’s digital assistant makes it possible.”

This sounds like the existingPerplexity Assistanton any Android device, which tries to “find answers to any question and take action on the needs you have throughout the day.” It can already be set as the default virtual assistant on Android, but the AI Phone goes one step further with a button right on the lock screen. It is not clear if any AI processing happens on the device itself, but that seems unlikely if the feature is using the same cloud-based infrastructure as all other versions of Perplexity Assistant.

We have seen carriers and device makers turn Android phone lock screens intobillboards for unwanted ads and featuresin the past. Thankfully, this doesn’t seem like an example of a low-cost device being subsidized by annoying bloatware—a spokesperson toldTechCrunchthat the phone will be sold for less than $1,000. There are plenty of other great phones in that price range, so if you do not want the AI assistant on your lock screen, you can just buy a different phone.

Confusingly, Deutsche Telekom calls the AI Phone a “concept,” but also says it will be “available in course of the year.” Presumably, the phone’s AI functionality has been worked out, but the other hardware and features haven’t been finalized yet. The company expects to release it sometime in 2026 in Europe.

The company said in its announcement, “Thanks to the Perplexity assistant, Deutsche Telekom’s new AI Phone becomes an indispensable companion: order a taxi, reserve a table, translate in real time, and answer all questions. In the future, millions of Deutsche Telekom customers will always have a virtual butler on their AI Phone at their side. In addition, he writes e-mails, starts phone calls, plays music, summarizes texts or translates them, makes calendar entries and much more. In addition, Google Cloud AI, ElevenLabs and Picsart can also be found on the AI phone.”