Claim:
In June 2024, Elon Musk announced the "Tesla Phone," a new smartphone to compete with Apple's iPhone.
Rating:
Labeled Satire ( About this rating? )
On June 10, 2024, SpaceXMania.com published an article claiming that the tech billionaire Elon Musk would be expanding one of his companies into a new market: smartphones. According to the story, Musk announced that the new phone would completely outperform Apple's iPhone and that the company, which he supposedly called "Woke Apple," was in for a load of trouble. The story began as follows:
Breaking: Elon Musk To Launch His Own New Phone To Compete With Apple, "Woke Apple Is Finished"
In a bold move that could potentially reshape the landscape of the tech industry, Elon Musk has announced plans to launch his own smartphone, directly competing with tech giant Apple. Musk, the visionary CEO of companies like Tesla and SpaceX, declared that his new device would eclipse Apple's products, accompanied by the provocative statement, "Woke Apple is finished."
The story was also shared to a Facebook page associated with SpaceXMania.com, currently called "The Patriots Lovers." However, frequent Snopes readers may recognize this page by a different name: SpaceX Lovers. In fact, despite the fact that the page's name on Facebook is "The Patriots Lovers," the page's banner and profile image still use the "SpaceX Lovers" name.
Those same frequent Snopes readers may know something else about the SpaceX Lovers Facebook page too: It is a "satire" page. As such, the story was not a factual recounting of real-life events. SpaceXMania.com features a disclaimer page with more information, and the Facebook post's caption included the word satire at the very end:
Please note that the article under the category "SATIRE" are satirical in nature and are not meant to be taken seriously. These articles are meant to be humorous and are often entirely made up. We make no claim that the information presented in these articles is true or accurate.
Readers should exercise caution and use their own judgment when reading and interpreting our satirical articles. We take no responsibility for any actions taken based on the content of these articles.
One potential origin for the story may have been from Apple's 2024 Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) , when the company announced a partnership with OpenAI, which runs the ChatGPT language models. Apple announced that its tech would have a deep level of integration with OpenAI , a fact that Musk publicly criticized on his social media platform X. In the replies, users suggested that Musk develop his own smartphone, with one user providing a mock-up for the " Tesla Phone ," the exact same name proposed in the satire article.
Interestingly, Musk responded to another user who made a mock-up of a Samsung "X Phone," calling the idea " not out of the question ."
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.
Sources:
Breaking: Elon Musk To Launch His Own New Phone To Compete With Apple, "Woke Apple Is Finished." 10 June 2024, https://spacexmania.com/breaking-elon-musk-to-launch-his-own-new-phone-to-compete-with-apple-woke-apple-is-finished/. Davis, Wes. "Every 'Apple Intelligence' Feature Announced."
The Verge , 10 June 2024, https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/10/24175405/wwdc-apple-ai-news-features-ios-18-macos-15-iphone-ipad-mac.
Disclaimer - SpaceXMania . 3 Jan. 2021, https://spacexmania.com/disclaimer/.
Facebook . https://www.facebook.com/SpaceXElon/posts/pfbid028KDUjKxtSxTcn5TKqxSdxgbvkZfTDLqMRepVKXMNHY29YHBodNLxxRmLQngCrH7nl. Accessed 11 June 2024.
--- . https://www.facebook.com/SpaceXElon. Accessed 11 June 2024. "WWDC24."
Apple Developer , https://developer.apple.com/wwdc24/. Accessed 11 June 2024. "X.Com."
X (Formerly Twitter) , https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1800265431078551973. Accessed 11 June 2024. "---."
X (Formerly Twitter) , https://x.com/greg16676935420/status/1800266003508527276. Accessed 11 June 2024.
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