OpenAI has acquired io, the hardware company founded by Jony Ive, in a $6.5B deal. The move brings top Apple veterans to OpenAI and sets the stage for next-gen AI devices launching in 2026.
OpenAI Acquires Jony Ive’s io Hardware Company in $6.5 Billion Deal
OpenAI is making a major push into hardware with its acquisition of io, a company founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and other ex-Apple veterans. The deal is valued at nearly $6.5 billion, according to Bloomberg.
While Jony Ive himself will not be joining OpenAI, his design firm LoveFrom will remain independent and take over design for all of OpenAI’s products both hardware and software.
A New Era for AI Hardware
The acquisition brings about 55 engineers and experts including former Apple executives Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan directly into OpenAI. The first product from the newly integrated team is expected to launch in 2026.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman clarified that their first device won’t replace smartphones but introduce something entirely new. “In the same way that the smartphone didn’t make the laptop go away, I don’t think our first thing is going to make the smartphone go away. It is a totally new kind of thing,” he said.
What Will They Build?
Though exact product details are still under wraps, earlier ideas have included headphones and camera-equipped devices. Ive described current attempts at AI hardware, like the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1, as “very poor products” that lacked innovation.
“The first product the team has been working on has just completely captured our imagination,” Ive said.
Altman added, “I think it is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.”
A Vision for Human-Centered AI
Both Altman and Ive emphasized their human-first approach to AI design. “AI is an incredible technology, but great tools require work at the intersection of technology, design, and understanding people and the world,” Altman stated.
In a joint post, Altman and Ive said, “The io team, focused on developing products that inspire, empower and enable, will now merge with OpenAI to work more intimately with the research, engineering, and product teams in San Francisco.”
Ive added, “I have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the last 30 years has led me to this moment.”
With this move, OpenAI is making it clear that design and usability will play a central role in the future of AI not just raw computing power.
