OpenAI is making its boldest move yet into consumer hardware, acquiring the secretive design and engineering startup io in a massive all-stock deal valued at nearly $6.5 billion. Founded by legendary Apple designer Sir Jony Ive, io brings to OpenAI a team of around 55 elite engineers and designers—many of them former Apple veterans responsible for iconic devices like the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and MacBook Air.
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This acquisition marks OpenAI’s largest purchase to date and is a clear signal of its ambition to develop new AI-first hardware that could rival or even redefine the smartphone. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive have described the deal as the culmination of a two-year collaboration “built upon friendship, curiosity, and shared values.” The startup will now be integrated into OpenAI, with the io team working closely alongside its research and engineering groups in San Francisco.
Ive’s Grand Return to Consumer Tech
Jony Ive, knighted for his services to design, left Apple in 2019 after nearly three decades of shaping the company’s most iconic products. Following his departure, he launched the design firm LoveFrom, which will remain independent but is now set to oversee the design of all OpenAI products, including software.
While Ive himself will not join OpenAI as an employee, his influence on the company’s product direction will be substantial. “I have a growing sense that everything I’ve learned over the last 30 years has led me to this place and to this moment,” Ive said in a joint interview with Altman.
Prototype and the Vision
Although details remain sparse, Altman and Ive released a cryptic video and statement teasing a mysterious prototype device, expected to debut by 2026. Altman described it as “the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.” Ive hinted that current consumer electronics are outdated and that a radically new form factor is needed to fully harness the power of AI.
Altman echoed this view, suggesting that AI’s capabilities demand a “new kind of computing form factor.” OpenAI has already recruited top hardware talent, including former Meta executive Caitlin Kalinowski, to lead its robotics and hardware strategy.
Apple Factor
The acquisition has not gone unnoticed in Cupertino. Apple shares fell 2.3% following the news, a sign of investor concern about the emerging competition. The fact that many of the engineers joining OpenAI were once responsible for Apple’s most successful products adds to the intrigue. Among them are Evans Hankey, former head of Apple’s Industrial Design team, Tang Tan, former VP of Product Design, and Scott Cannon, who worked on Macs and iPads before co-founding the email startup Mailbox.
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The $6.5 billion figure includes $5 billion in OpenAI equity and a previous agreement from late 2024, when OpenAI acquired a 23% stake in io. Investors in io include Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective, Sutter Hill Ventures, Maverick Capital, Thrive Capital, and SV Angel. Notably, Altman himself holds no equity in io. The deal is expected to close by summer 2025, pending regulatory approval, and positions OpenAI as a major player in AI-integrated hardware. If successful, it could reshape not just the AI landscape—but the entire consumer tech industry.