Social media posts falsely claim Tesla released smartphone
- Published on October 17, 2025 at 06:13
- 2 min read
- By Raevathi SUPRAMANIAM, AFP Malaysia
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Elon Musk's SpaceX has announced plans to enter the mobile network industry, prompting a wave of false social media claims that the billionaire's electric vehicle company Tesla has launched a new smartphone. There is no evidence Musk or Tesla have released a mobile device, while the posts feature fabricated images of phones that do not exist as of October 17, 2025.
"Latest Update! Tesla Pi Phone $789 Finally Comes with Free STARLINK! Elon Musk Says 'Apple Should Be Worried!'" reads part of a Malay-language Facebook post on September 22, 2025.
It features a collage of three images, one purportedly showing Musk holding up a phone with "Tesla" and "Pi Phone" written on the back. The other two show a supposed Apple smartphone and another device with the Tesla logo on the back.
Similar Malay-language posts surfaced elsewhere on Facebook, and were also shared by users from Nigeria, Bangladesh and the United States.
The posts appeared after Musk's aerospace company SpaceX announced it is purchasing US$17 billion in wireless spectrum for use by its satellite service Starlink. In an interview with The Washington Post, Musk said that his next target is the mobile network industry, aiming to compete with the likes of Verizon and T-Mobile -- but not Apple like the false posts suggest (archived link).
Neither Tesla nor Musk has officially announced the release of a smartphone as of October 17, 2025.
In a town hall event held in Pennsylvania in October 2024, Musk was asked when his company would launch a phone, to which Musk replied: "I sure hope we don't have to make a phone" (archived link).
"The idea of making a phone makes me want to die. If we have to make a phone we will, but we will aspire not to make a phone," he added.
A keyword search of Musk's and Tesla's social media accounts did not return any official announcement about a phone.
A subsequent search of Tesla's official website showed that it lists only vehicles, energy, and charging products, with no mention of any mobile devices (archived link).
Tesla did not respond to AFP's request for comment.
A closer inspection of the images shared alongside the false post shows that the so-called "Tesla phones" display two different logo designs -- one with the words "Tesla" and "Pi Phone" on the back, and another featuring only the Tesla logo and lettering.
This inconsistent branding contrasts with Tesla's actual design approach, which emphasises sleek, minimalist aesthetics and clean lines, suggesting the images may have been generated with AI (archived link).
The iPhone featured in the false post also does not match any Apple product currently on the market. The phone appears to resemble an iPhone 15, which is only available in pink, yellow, green, blue and black (archived link).
The orange colour shown in the image is only offered with Apple's latest iPhone 17 Pro models which feature three rear cameras, unlike the device seen in the post.
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