OpenAI has acquired Glass Imaging, a company specializing in smartphone camera technology, in a transaction valued at more than $300 million, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Headquartered in Los Altos, California, Glass Imaging was established in 2019 and had previously secured approximately $30 million in funding from investors.
The startup was co-founded by Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, former Apple engineers who spearheaded the development of the iPhone’s Portrait Mode. Leveraging their background, the founders have focused on using AI to address the physical limitations inherent in smartphone camera hardware. Rather than relying on post-processing edits, Glass Imaging employs neural networks that learn the specific characteristics of different camera systems, delivering higher-quality images directly from the moment the photo is captured.
OpenAI declined to immediately comment on the acquisition. However, the purchase aligns with speculation that the ChatGPT developer is expanding into hardware, with prior reports suggesting work on smartphones, earbuds, and screenless AI companion devices.
This move follows OpenAI’s significant $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive’s company in 2025. Ive, the famed Apple designer, has been collaborating with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on a device venture codenamed io.
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