OpenAI’s hardware roadmap has been significantly refined in recent months, with its first device now identified, a smartphone expected to arrive as early as next year, and a wider range taking shape behind them.
AI smart speaker
OpenAI’s first product is a screenless wearable smart speaker developed with former Apple design chief Jony Ive, designed to act as a personal companion at home rather than a conventional voice assistant.
Design
The device would have a rechargeable battery so it could be carried from room to room, a camera to understand its surroundings, and mechanical elements that move on their own to make it appear alive. Ive and CEO Sam Altman previously said they didn’t want to build a device with a screen, with Altman describing a prototype to employees as “the coolest technology the world has ever seen.”
Features
Powered by ChatGPT and using GPT-Live for conversation, the speaker would control smart home accessories, answer questions, play media and respond to messages, becoming more personalized and proactive over time. It is also said that he has a personality of his own. OpenAI would not consider the HomePod or HomePod mini to be comparable products.
Price and release date
The speaker is expected in early 2027 at a price between $200 and $300, having surpassed this year’s initial release target.
AI smartphone
Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo first described the device in April as an “AI agent phone” built around a continuous, context-aware interface rather than individual apps, arguing that the smartphone is the only device capturing the complete real-time state of a user, including location, activity, communication and context. He believes that controlling both the operating system and hardware is the only way OpenAI can provide a complete agent service.
Features
The phone will reportedly use a customized version of MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 processor built on TSMC’s N2P node, also used on Apple’s upcoming “A20” chips, with MediaTek now seemingly likely the sole chip supplier after Kuo initially named Qualcomm as a possible partner. Luxshare Precision Industry is considered the exclusive manufacturing partner, and Sunny Optical has secured component orders for two OpenAI devices, likely for camera modules.
Its main known specification is an image signal processor with an enhanced HDR pipeline intended to improve real-world sensing through the camera, as well as two AI processors to handle vision and language tasks simultaneously.
Chronology
Mass production was initially planned for 2028, but Kuo revised that figure to the first half of 2027, reflecting OpenAI’s planned IPO and intensifying competition in the category. It predicts that combined deliveries for 2027 and 2028 could reach around 30 million units if development remains on track.
Other devices
Smart glasses, a smart lamp, and potentially headphones are also said to be in development, although these are further off the roadmap and some could be canceled. The lineup stems from OpenAI’s $6.5 billion acquisition of Ive’s startup io Products, as well as an aggressive recruiting drive that brought more than 400 former Apple employees to the company, including designers Evans Hankey, Tang Tan and Scott Cannon, and Vision Products group leader Paul Meade. Apple responded with retention bonuses of up to $400,000 in restricted stock units for its iPhone product design team.
Apple’s lawsuit
This hiring is now the subject of litigation. Apple sued OpenAI on July 10 for alleged theft of trade secrets, and BloombergMark Gurman of , says the affair is already slowing hardware efforts by deterring Apple engineers from interviewing and making suppliers wary. OpenAI says it has “no interest in the trade secrets of other companies.”
What does this mean for Apple?
Apple is rumored to be developing smart glasses, AirPods with cameras, an AI pendant, and a smart home hub with enhanced Siri capabilities, putting the two companies on a collision course in several categories.
