For decades, computers and smartphones have been organized with menus, files, folders and apps, and humans have adapted to this logic. A U.S.-based AI and interface company, Brain Technologies, Inc., however, is working to change this paradigm.
Seeking to reinvent computing so technology learns to think the way humans do, Brain Technologies developed the “Natural AI Phone,” which reimagines the smartphone from the ground up. The device uses an AI-native operating system designed to understand what users want without requiring them to navigate between apps or manually coordinate across services.
On April 17, 2026, SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) and Brain Technologies, announced they will offer the Natural AI Phone to ‘SoftBank’ mobile service brand customers starting April 24. Exclusive to SoftBank in Japan for one year after launch, the release marks the first full-fledged commercial rollout of the Natural AI Phone.
A smartphone that adapts to the user, not the other way around
The Natural AI Phone is available in two colors: True Black and True White
The Natural AI Phone’s operating system architecture, integrated into the Android operating system, is built on three principles:
- It flows. Tasks unfold around intent, not around apps. The user asks; the system does.
- It organizes. Information groups itself around goals and concepts, not into static folders. The phone adapts to what matters; the user stops adapting to the phone.
- It persists. The system works in the background between interactions, watching for what comes next, not waiting to be told what to do. Intelligence that persists is qualitatively different from intelligence that responds.
The Natural AI Phone can operate seamlessly across apps to save users time and effort. For example, a user can check Google Calendar, make a restaurant reservation, and send the reservation details via LINE.
The Natural AI Phone also features an “AI button” on the right side. Pressing it once launches AI features, and pressing it twice while using an app or interacting with the screen allows the device to understand and remember images and text displayed, and use them to make subsequent suggestions.
Smartphone aligns with SoftBank’s vision of coexistence with AI
At the press conference held in Tokyo on April 17 to announce new AI-related services and the Natural AI Phone, Yoshiaki Adachi, Head of the Product Division at SoftBank’s Consumer Business Unit, noted that SoftBank’s goal is to create a society where people coexist with AI. “This vision can be realized through a familiar device like a smartphone, and this led us to adopt the Natural AI Phone,” he explained.
“We didn’t set out to build a better smartphone,” said Jerry Yue, Founder and CEO of Brain Technologies. “We asked what a phone would look like if you designed it around the way human attention actually works. The answer was something entirely new. Japan gets it first.”
Jerry Yue, Founder and CEO of Brain Technologies, speaks at press conference
(Posted on April 20, 2026)
by SoftBank News Editors
