Brain Technologies, a company founded in 2015 to build AI interfaces, announced at Mobile World Congress a new smartphone that does not run apps and instead relies on generative AI for the entire software experience.

The Brain.ai smartphone runs on Android, but does not come with an app. It also ditches the app store and traditional user interface design. Instead, the operating system is Natural AI, "the world's first generative AI interface. Users simply say what they want from the device, and the resulting interface is an app that answers the prompts.

TechCrunch staff demonstrated Brain.ai and said its interface is distinctly different from Android and iOS. When the user queried the device for a "gift for grandma who can't get out of bed," Brain.ai showed a series of e-commerce results on the display. The user could then change the search results and, if they liked the item, add it to the shopping cart of the e-commerce site selling it.

Brain.ai's website also provides several other examples, including an option to instruct your smartphone to take an Uber between two locations. It can also be used to book airline tickets and Airbnb reservations.

On its website, Brain.ai does not mention the phone's camera capabilities, but told TechCrunch that the interface can translate text and interpret the world around it as the user takes pictures.

"Natural clears away the clutter on your screen," Brain Technologies wrote on its website.

"It lets you focus on what you want to do, not how to get there."

It is unclear how much functionality this smartphone will have out of the box. However, the company told "TechCrunch" that AI underpins the software set and will expand its capabilities as more people enter queries. Also, all of the smartphone's AI functions run off-device, which means that without an Internet connection, Brain.ai is little better than a brick.

Brain has not revealed future plans for this smartphone, including important details such as price and where it will be available. It is also unclear if there is a market for an Android phone without apps, but it is a novel approach that bridges the gap between mobile software and AI.