OpenAI Acquires Glass Imaging in $300 Million Hardware Push
The acquisition of the camera technology startup follows OpenAI's previous purchase of Jony Ive's device company, io.
OpenAI has acquired Glass Imaging, a Los Altos-based smartphone camera maker, in a deal valued at more than $300 million, as TechCrunch first reported via The Wall Street Journal.
Founded in 2019 by former Apple engineers Tom Bishop and Ziv Attar—who previously led the development of Apple's Portrait Mode—Glass Imaging utilizes neural networks to improve image quality at the point of capture. Unlike traditional AI photo editing, the company's technology learns the specifics of individual camera systems to bypass the physical size limitations of smartphone hardware.
Prior to the acquisition, Glass Imaging had secured approximately $30 million in investor funding.
The move signals a deepening commitment to proprietary hardware for the ChatGPT developer. TechCrunch reports that OpenAI is rumored to be developing its own line of AI companion devices, earbuds, and smartphones. This follows a 2025 transaction in which OpenAI purchased io, a device startup founded by CEO Sam Altman and former Apple designer Jony Ive, for $6.5 billion.
OpenAI did not provide a comment on the Glass Imaging acquisition when contacted by TechCrunch.