OpenAI aims to ship first hardware device in 2026 possibly as earbuds

OpenAI is on track to announce its first hardware device in the second half of this year. Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane made the statement during an Axios-hosted panel at Davos. The company acquired former Apple design head Jony Ive's startup io last year. Reporting from Asian publications and leakers suggests the device could be a pair of earbuds codenamed Sweet Pea. The earbuds would feature a unique design compared with existing models. They could run on a custom 2-nanometer processor and handle AI tasks locally. A report from a large Taiwanese newspaper said OpenAI is exploring a manufacturing partnership with China-based Luxshare. The company might instead work with Taiwan's Foxconn. In the first year of sales OpenAI aims to ship 40 to 50 million units. Chief Executive Sam Altman described the potential device last November as more peaceful and calm than iPhones. Previous reporting indicated the device would be screen-free and pocketable. OpenAI has nearly a billion weekly users of ChatGPT and seeks its own device to control development and distribution of the AI assistant.