Deutsche Telekom has launched a cut-price smartphone with an integrated artificial intelligence assistant. The “AI-phone,” or T Phone 3, was built with AI technology from Perplexity and retails in Germany for just €149 ($174).
The company wanted to deliver a budget-friendly AI smartphone to make the technology “accessible to everyone – not just tech nerds or enthusiasts.”
Claudia Nemat, board member for Technology and Innovation at Deutsche Telekom, said “there is still some reluctance” to AI, in a statement. “We believe AI offers significant opportunities. To use those, people need to take part and try out AI tools.”
The phone’s AI features
Perplexity Assistant
Reminiscent of Apple’s Siri, the Perplexity Assistant is activated by a dedicated magenta-coloured button at the bottom of the lock screen or by double-clicking the power button. It responds to both written and voice commands, and, in addition to simple internet searches, it can interact with pre-installed apps such as the calendar, email inbox, and maps.
Examples of tasks the Perplexity Assistant can perform include:
- Drafting calendar entries
- Ordering Ubers
- Making reservations and translating restaurant menus in real time.
- Finding the best deals on purchases
- Seeking out concerts, books, and movies that match the user’s taste
Picsart
In addition to Perplexity, Deutsche Telekom has collaborated with AI design tools company Picsart on the T Phone 3. Users can remove objects from their photos, change the background entirely, or generate talking avatars from the people featured in them.
The AI-phone’s availability and pricing
The phone is now available in Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, and Slovakia.
A tablet with the Perplexity Assistant, T Tablet 2, is also on sale for €199 in Germany. However, when bought alongside the smartphone and a Deutsche Telekom tariff, both devices cost only €1 each.
A Pro version of the T Phone 3, with faster charging and an upgraded chipset, will follow later this year.
Perplexity Assistant could offer an alternative to Apple’s upcoming AI Siri
T Phone 3 could scoop up customers who were holding out for Apple to release its AI-augmented Siri with a model from OpenAI or Anthropic.
While it was first announced in June 2024, rumours suggest Apple’s revamped assistant might not come until 2027. The delay has led to a class-action lawsuit alleging that Apple misled iPhone 16 buyers with promises of features that have yet to materialise.
To appease those waiting for the new AI assistant, a ChatGPT integration was added to Siri with iOS 18.2 last November, allowing requests that can’t be handled on-device to be forwarded to the chatbot. Nevertheless, Apple delayed the rollout of Apple Intelligence in the EU due to regulatory issues, so European users will likely have to wait even longer for the new Siri.
However, while the price of the T Phone 3 is reasonable, given the rapid pace of AI advancements, its offering may feel outdated.
In March, Huawei’s Pura X debuted with an AI assistant powered by DeepSeek, which automatically turns pages via eye‑tracking. The following month, Motorola’s new foldable Razr lineup included integrations with Perplexity, Google Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Meta’s Llama models.
Apple is reportedly planning to add AI to Safari’s search capabilities and launch several ChatGPT-like products that can search the web.