We reported on Monday that OpenAI is acquiring io, the hardware-based AI startup co-founded by Former Apple executive Jony Ive. The device has been described as a “third core device” after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone.
Now Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has share what he says are more details about the so far secretive device’s design.
In an “X” post today, Kuo said the device will be “slightly larger” than Humane’s discontinued AI Pin. He said the device will look “as compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle,” (Apple’s lowest-priced, screen-less iPod, which had a design that morphed over the yers, changing from a chewing gum stick-like rectangle to a square shape).
Kuo said OpenAI’s device will not have a screen, but it would connect to smartphones and computers. The device will be equipped with microphones for voice control, and it will have cameras that can analyze the user’s surroundings. Kuo says the device will be worn around the neck, like a necklace.
My industry research indicates the following regarding the new AI hardware device from Jony Ive's collaboration with OpenAI:
1. Mass production is expected to start in 2027.
2. Assembly and shipping will occur outside China to reduce geopolitical risks, with Vietnam currently the… pic.twitter.com/5IELYEjNyV— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 22, 2025
Kuo expects OpenAI’s device to enter mass production in 2027, as usual with things like this, the final design and specifications of the device might change before then. He said assembly and shipping will occur outside China to reduce geopolitical risks, with Vietnam the likely assembly location.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman says Ive gave him a prototype of the first device to allow him to test it. “I’ve been able to live with it, and I think it is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen,” he said.
