OpenAI acquires smartphone camera AI startup Glass Imaging for $300M
OpenAI has agreed to purchase Glass Imaging, a Los Altos‑based company that applies neural‑network techniques to improve raw smartphone camera output. Founded in 2019 by former Apple engineers Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, Glass Imaging previously raised about $30 million and is known for using AI to overcome the physical limits of phone lenses, delivering better images at the moment the shutter…
Key points
- OpenAI agreed to buy Glass Imaging for over $300 million, marking its biggest hardware acquisition to date.
- Glass Imaging, founded by ex‑Apple engineers Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, uses AI‑driven neural nets to improve raw smartphone camera output.
- The deal follows OpenAI’s 2025 $6.5 billion purchase of Jony Ive’s io startup and hints at future OpenAI‑branded devices.
The deal, reported at over $300 million, is OpenAI’s largest hardware‑focused acquisition and follows its 2025 $6.5 billion purchase of Jony Ive’s io venture. Analysts see the move as a step toward OpenAI‑branded consumer devices such as smartphones, earbuds, and AI companions, giving the company tighter integration of its models with on‑device imaging hardware.
OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300 million, report says
TechCrunch AI · 14 September 2026
OpenAI has bought smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging in a deal worth over $300 million, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The company, founded in 2019 and based in Los Altos, California, had previously raised about $30 million in funding from investors.
Glass Imaging was founded by Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, a pair of former Apple engineers who previously led the team that developed Apple’s Portrait Mode. This background directly informs the work they now do at Glass Imaging, where they use AI to overcome the physical size constraints of smartphone cameras. Rather than using AI to edit a photo after it’s been taken, Glass Imaging uses neural networks to learn about individual camera systems — like the different cameras on various smartphone models — to yield better images from the moment the shutter clicks.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The ChatGPT maker is rumored to be working on its own hardware, like smartphones, earbuds, and AI companion devices.
In 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and famed Apple designer Jony Ive revealed that they had been working together on a device startup called io, when OpenAI bought Ive’s company for $6.5 billion.
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