OpenAI paid over $300 million for Glass Imaging, a company founded by ex-Apple engineers that uses AI to improve smartphone camera image quality in real-time rather than through post-processing. The acquisition signals OpenAI's push into hardware, following its earlier $6.5 billion purchase of designer Jony Ive's startup.

• Glass Imaging was founded by former Apple Portrait Mode engineers and uses neural networks to optimize images at the moment of capture, tailored to specific camera hardware
• The $300 million deal represents a major step in OpenAI's hardware ambitions, which reportedly include smartphones, earbuds, and AI companion devices
• This follows OpenAI's 2025 acquisition of Jony Ive's device startup io for $6.5 billion, showing a pattern of hardware investment