The last 48 hours have been a wild rollercoaster ride for AI hardware. On Tuesday, Google ended its I/O keynote — a roughly two-hour event with copious references to AI — with its vision for Android XR glasses. That included flashy partnerships with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, as well as the first hands-on opportunity with its prototype glasses for the developers and the majority of tech media alike. On the ground, it was among the buzziest things to come out of Google I/O — a glimpse of what Big Tech thinks is the winning AI hardware formula.
A day later, Jony Ive and Sam Altman kicked down the door and told Google, “Hold my beer.”
If you’ve somehow missed the headlines, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that the company was buying Ive’s AI hardware startup for $6.5 billion. That alone was enough to set the tech media sphere ablaze. After all, Ive is the legendary figure behind the iPhone and Apple Watch’s iconic design, revered for his relationship to Steve Jobs. Altman is not only the most recognizable figure in this new AI era, he’s also frequently compared to Jobs himself. It’s a narrative that writes itself. But for gadget nerds, the real nugget was the tidbit that Altman had seen an actual prototype from Ive. They coyly dropped hints that this mystery gadget would be to AI what the iPhone was to mobile computing. It was, they implied, unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. That in turn set everyone hunting for clues and leaks about what this device could possibly be.
Here’s what we know so far. In a leaked call reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Altman told OpenAI staffers it’s not a phone, or glasses — the form factor that Meta and Google are betting big on. Altman also indicated that Ive wasn’t keen on a device that had to be wearable. It would be part of a “family of devices,” screenless, and a “third core” gadget outside of your phone and laptop. It’s something that can be stuck into your pocket but also displayed on your desk. Altman has described the prototype as one of the coolest pieces of technology ever, while Ive also threw shade at the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1, the two biggest AI hardware flops of 2024.
It’s enough to make any gadget nerd scream.
Right now, we’ve entered what I’d call the spaghetti phase of AI hardware. Big Tech and smaller gadget makers alike are throwing anything and everything at the wall to see what sticks. Silicon Valley wants generative AI on your devices. It’s just that no one agrees on what’s the best approach, or what people would actually pay for and use. You could also view it like the board game Clue, except instead of murder suspects, rooms, and weapons, we’re all trying to guess who’s going to crack the code in terms of form factor, company, and use cases. Is it Samsung with Project Moohan in your living room as you ask Gemini to take you to Tokyo? Meta with its Ray-Ban glasses on a Thai beach as its Live AI feature translates a drinks menu? Bee or Plaud in a boardroom, diligently summarizing action items from your meeting? Or maybe it’s Ive and Altman — with whatever this prototype will do in whatever scenarios we’re meant to use it.
An educated guess right now would need to include a few key elements, combined with a good-faith reading of what’s been leaked. (Of course, acknowledging that Ive in particular is a whiz at cheeky misdirection.) There are a few things AI gadgets have had in common thus far:
- Cameras
- Speakers
- Microphones
- Batteries
- Some kind of internet connectivity
- Portability
These are the ingredients needed to enable multimodal AI — as in, a device that can see what you see, access a large language model, be with you wherever you go, interact with you to answer questions, and last long enough to be useful in a variety of scenarios. Given these parameters, it’s no surprise that Big Tech has largely landed on wearable gadgets, particularly glasses and pins. The thing most players in this space can’t agree on is whether the average person will want a display. So far, Ive and Altman don’t seem to think so.
Right after the news broke, I suspected this meant some kind of headphone or a mini portable speaker scenario. Then earlier today, notable supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that the current prototype is “slightly larger than the AI Pin, with a form factor as compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle.” A potential use case involves you wearing it around the neck, that there’ll be cameras and microphones, and that it will connect with smartphones and computers.
That leads me to believe we’re talking about something that’s a mix between the Plaud NotePin and the AI Pin. Plaud’s device can be worn in various ways, including as a necklace, is pill-shaped, and gives off a sleek, compact vibe. Meanwhile, the Humane AI Pin had a camera, speaker, microphone, and the Apple-esque elegance in terms of design. (Even if it violated nearly almost every tenet of good wearable design, got too hot to wear comfortably, and required an expensive LTE subscription.) In some ways, that means we’re kind of talking about an always-listening, smart body cam (that could also be a decorative item on your desk).
I could be completely off-base. I’m holding space for Ive and Altman to have not only reinvented the wheel, but redefined the next era of mobile computing. And that ambiguity is kind of the point. We don’t know — and according to leaks, probably won’t until late 2026 or 2027. That’s just enough time to dangle a few tantalizing tidbits, drum up curiosity and hype, and crucially, build anticipation that will possibly be sweeter than whatever it is they eventually launch. Strategically, it also lets Ive and Altman throw rivals off their game — make us all question, are smart glasses really the best vehicle for AI?
In other words, this is the fun part where anything is possible.
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