It’s sleek. It’s futuristic. It supposedly charges itself from sunlight, connects directly to Starlink satellites, and even integrates with your Tesla car. People online claim they’ve seen it in coffee shops, airports, and even in the hands of “mysterious tech insiders.”

There’s just one problem — the Tesla Phone doesn’t exist.

The frenzy began with a few concept renders posted online by designers dreaming of what a Tesla-made smartphone might look like. The images were stunning: an all-screen front, holographic projection features, and a metallic finish that shimmered like something out of a sci-fi movie. Tech blogs, eager for clicks, ran with the concept. YouTube channels pumped out videos titled “Leaked Tesla Phone: Everything You Need to Know”.

The hype spiraled into a phenomenon that could only happen in the age of social media. People began reporting “sightings.” Some swore they’d spotted someone scrolling on a device with the Tesla “T” logo. Others claimed to have “inside sources” saying it would launch next month. Memes, mock unboxing videos, and fake product pages popped up everywhere.

Psychologists call this kind of mass misremembering the “Mandela Effect” — when people collectively believe in something that never actually happened. In this case, the mix of realistic renders, Elon Musk’s unpredictable history of surprise product launches, and Tesla’s futuristic brand image created the perfect storm for a digital hallucination.

In reality, Tesla has made no official announcement about a phone. Musk himself once tweeted that a Tesla phone isn’t on the company’s roadmap — though he left just enough ambiguity to keep hope alive. After all, this is the man who turned a car company into a space exploration powerhouse.

So why do millions feel like they’ve seen the Tesla Phone? Simple: in the online era, the line between concept and reality has blurred. A viral image can plant a seed so strong in people’s minds that it becomes a “memory,” even if the product never existed.

And maybe that’s why the Tesla Phone remains so captivating — it’s not just a gadget, it’s a ghost story for the digital age.