OpenAI Reportedly Buys Glass Imaging in $300 Million Smartphone Camera AI Deal

OpenAI has bought Glass Imaging in a deal worth over $300 million, according to a report cited by TechCrunch. Glass Imaging is a smartphone camera maker founded in 2019 and based in Los Altos, California. The company had previously raised about $30 million from investors. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Glass Imaging was founded by Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, former Apple engineers who previously led the team behind Apple’s Portrait Mode. Its work focuses on using AI to address the physical size constraints of smartphone cameras. Rather than applying AI only after a photo is taken, Glass Imaging trains neural networks on individual camera systems to improve images when the shutter clicks.

The acquisition lands as OpenAI is rumored to be working on hardware including smartphones, earbuds, and AI companion devices. Smartphone camera expertise could matter if OpenAI’s hardware plans depend on tightly integrated sensors, imaging systems, and on-device AI experiences. The clearest takeaway: OpenAI appears to be gathering specialized hardware and design capabilities, not just software talent.

In 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple designer Jony Ive revealed they had been working together on a device startup called io. OpenAI bought Ive’s company for $6.5 billion. The Glass Imaging deal, as reported, adds another hardware-adjacent piece to that broader device strategy.