OpenAI teams with Apple supplier Luxshare to build consumer AI device
OpenAI has struck a deal with Luxshare, a major Apple supplier, to manufacture a prototype consumer AI device, according to The Information. The pocket-sized gadget is being designed to work natively with OpenAI’s AI models and adapt to user context, potentially offering an alternative to smartphones and PCs as the main way people interact with artificial intelligence.
The project represents one of the boldest pushes yet by an AI firm into dedicated hardware, rather than layering AI onto existing devices. Analysts say an “AI-native” product could open entirely new markets while challenging the dominance of established consumer electronics leaders such as Apple, Samsung, and Google.
OpenAI earlier this year acquired io Products, a hardware startup founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, in a $6.5 billion deal to accelerate its hardware ambitions. Luxshare—best known for assembling iPhones and AirPods—will provide the large-scale manufacturing muscle. OpenAI has also reached out to Goertek, another Apple supplier, for components such as speaker modules.
Neither Luxshare nor OpenAI has commented publicly on the report. But the move underscores OpenAI’s effort to expand beyond software like ChatGPT into consumer electronics, a sector where hardware-software integration is often the key to success.
If successful, the device could pose a new kind of competition to smartphones by offering a lightweight, AI-first alternative—part personal assistant, part communications tool—that reimagines how users connect to digital ecosystems.