According to a new Bloomberg report, OpenAI is building its own AI speaker. The company is developing the device in collaboration with LoveFrom, the design studio founded by former Apple chief designer Jony Ive. The price is expected to range from $300 to $400, with a market launch planned for 2027 at the earliest. This would mark the first time OpenAI has sold its own hardware, rather than just offering ChatGPT as software.
In a nutshell: According to Bloomberg, OpenAI and LoveFrom are working on a donut-shaped, portable AI speaker made of metal. Price: $300 to $400; launch no earlier than 2027. An earlier report from February 2026 had estimated a price of $200 to $300 and included a built-in camera. So the specifications still seem to be evolving.
Here’s what we know about the OpenAI speaker
According to TechCrunch, which cites the Bloomberg report, the speaker is said to be made of high-quality metal and feature moving parts. It is explicitly designed as a portable device that you can, for example, take from your nightstand to the kitchen in the morning. OpenAI apparently describes the product internally as a “physical manifestation” of ChatGPT: a voice assistant that accompanies you in your daily life rather than being stationary in one place.
By comparison, Amazon’s Echo series costs between $40 and $240, depending on the model. OpenAI would thus be entering the market with a device priced significantly above the usual price range for smart speakers.
Design: A Metal Donut Instead of a Cylinder
The design is the most striking detail. Instead of the familiar cylindrical or spherical shape of the Echo and Google Home, OpenAI has opted for a ring-shaped, donut-like form. This fits with LoveFrom’s existing design language: Among other projects, the studio collaborated with Ferrari to design the Luce electric sports car and clearly prioritizes unusual, minimalist forms over the classic look of consumer electronics.
A comparison of previous reports shows just how much the concept has changed in recent months:
| Feature | February 2026 Report | August 2026 Report |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $200 to $300 | $300 to $400 |
| Form | Compact, with camera | Donut-shaped, portable |
| Camera / Face Recognition | Yes, includes Face ID-like recognition | No longer the focus of recent reports |
| Market launch | Early 2027 at the earliest | Sometime in 2027 |
It is not clear from current reports whether the camera will ultimately be part of the final device. There have been no official statements from OpenAI or Jony Ive so far; all details come from Bloomberg’s research and subsequent reporting.
Timeline: Why It Will Take Until 2027
A finished product is not expected until 2027 at the earliest; according to earlier reports, it may not be available before February of that year. A prototype is said to have already existed as early as November 2025. However, there is typically plenty of time for changes to price, feature set, and design before the product is ready for mass production, as the comparison of the two reports above shows.
Background: How OpenAI Came to Work with Jony Ive
The partnership dates back to OpenAI’s acquisition of the hardware company io, which was completed in May 2025. Jony Ive was a co-founder of io and, according to reports, has since held the final say in design decisions for OpenAI’s hardware projects. Several former Apple heavyweights are also on board: Tang Tan, who previously led iPhone product design; Evans Hankey, former head of design at Apple; and Paul Meade, who worked on the Vision Pro and smart glasses prototypes at Apple.
In addition to the speaker, OpenAI is reportedly already working internally on other devices, such as a smart lamp and AI glasses. According to reports, both products are in the early stages of development and are not expected to be released before 2028.
The Apple Lawsuit in the Background
The project is off to a rocky start: Apple sued OpenAI in July 2026 for alleged theft of trade secrets and also accuses io employees of taking confidential hardware information with them. OpenAI denies the allegations. For details and the full story, it’s worth checking out TechCrunch’s coverage of the lawsuit. It remains to be seen how the legal proceedings will affect the speaker’s timeline or feature set.
Can a $300 speaker compete with Alexa and Google Home?
That’s exactly the real question. For years, smart speakers have been considered difficult to make a profit on in the industry: Amazon lost money on its Echo line for years to secure market share, and Google Home also had to earn users’ trust through low entry-level prices. OpenAI is taking the opposite approach here, positioning its device as a premium product that costs three to ten times as much as an entry-level Echo.
It remains to be seen whether users are willing to pay a premium price for a speaker without a screen just because it has ChatGPT built in. Voice commands for Alexa, for example, have become second nature over the years, and switching from their familiar assistant is a bigger hurdle for many households than the purchase price alone. Furthermore, in the EU, AI-powered devices like this one could be subject to additional regulations in the future—such as the AI labeling requirement, which will apply to certain AI content and interactions starting in 2026.
It will also be interesting to see how OpenAI’s approach differs from that of its established competitors, who are increasingly relying on voice assistants with AI integration—for example, as Google integrates its Gemini models more deeply into its own products. While OpenAI has the better-known brand with ChatGPT, it has no experience whatsoever with hardware sales, service, or return processes in the consumer sector.
Conclusion
The OpenAI Smart Speaker is currently still just a Bloomberg rumor—albeit a well-substantiated one: the design, price range, and timeline are consistent across multiple independent reports. One thing is already certain: OpenAI is working with Jony Ive on an unusually shaped, significantly more expensive alternative to Alexa and Google Home. Whether this will actually become a consumer product in 2027—and what it will actually look like—remains to be seen, despite all the details. We’ll update this article as soon as OpenAI or Jony Ive himself comments on the matter.
