OpenAI Targets Late-2026 Unveiling for First Consumer Device, Executive Says

DAVOS, Switzerland — OpenAI plans to unveil its first consumer hardware device in the second half of 2026, the company’s top global affairs executive said Friday, offering the clearest timeline yet for the artificial intelligence lab’s push into physical products.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, said the company is “on track” to show the device sometime in the latter part of next year. He spoke during an on-stage interview at Axios House, a venue on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.

“We’re looking at something in the latter part [of 2026],” Lehane said, calling that the “most likely” window for an unveiling.

He added a note of caution — “we will see how things advance” — and did not say when the device might actually reach consumers or at what price.

Lehane listed “devices” as one of OpenAI’s major areas of focus for 2026 and said the company would have more to share “much later in the year.”

The remarks amount to the first concrete public timing for a branded gadget from OpenAI, whose ChatGPT software has become one of the world’s most widely used AI services. They also mark a significant shift for a company that until now has largely existed as a software platform accessible through phones and computers made by others.

A long courtship with hardware

OpenAI’s hardware ambitions have been building in the background for more than two years, centered on a collaboration with Jony Ive, the longtime Apple design chief behind the iPhone, and backed by billions of dollars from Japan’s SoftBank Group.

In 2023, reports surfaced that OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Ive were exploring ideas for an “iPhone of artificial intelligence,” discussing new device concepts at Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom. At the time, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son was said to be in talks to fund a separate venture dedicated to an AI-native device.

That structure changed as OpenAI’s own business expanded. In May 2025, OpenAI agreed to acquire Ive’s AI hardware startup, io, in a stock deal valued at roughly $6.4 billion, its largest acquisition to date. The startup, founded by former Apple hardware leaders, had been quietly developing new form factors for AI-first gadgets.

The acquisition, completed in July, brought io’s team into OpenAI. Ive and LoveFrom remained independent but took on what OpenAI described as “deep design and creative responsibilities” across the company’s products.

In public appearances since then, Altman and Ive have sketched out a philosophy for the device without revealing its shape. Speaking at an event hosted by Emerson Collective in late 2025, Altman said the first prototypes drew reactions such as, “That’s it? It’s so simple.”

Altman has repeatedly contrasted the vision with today’s smartphones. He has likened current phone interfaces to “walking through Times Square” — crowded and full of distractions — and has said he wants OpenAI’s hardware to feel more like “sitting in the most beautiful cabin by a lake” with a sense of calm.

Ive, known for minimalist hardware, has described their goal as solutions that “teeter on appearing almost naive in their simplicity,” suggesting a device that feels obvious and unobtrusive once seen.

What the device might be — and what remains unknown

At Davos, Lehane declined to say whether OpenAI’s first product would be a wearable pin, an earpiece, glasses, a handheld device or something else. He did not address features, specifications or connectivity.

Separate comments from Altman and Ive over the past year point toward a small, general-purpose AI assistant designed to lean heavily on OpenAI’s models rather than local apps. They have suggested it will have little or no screen, rely primarily on voice and context, and sit on the body or in a pocket rather than dominate a user’s attention.

The device is expected to tap OpenAI’s latest systems — successors to the GPT-4 series — meaning it will likely depend on cloud infrastructure for most of its intelligence, with some local processing for responsiveness and basic privacy protections. OpenAI has not yet discussed how it will handle data storage, on-device versus cloud processing, or user control over the information such a device collects.

Lehane’s wording focused on an “unveiling” in 2026, leaving open the possibility that commercial availability could slip into 2027 depending on manufacturing, regulatory and technical hurdles.

Entering a bruised market for AI gadgets

OpenAI’s move comes after a rocky first wave of AI-centric devices left early adopters wary.

Humane’s AI Pin — a clip-on, screenless assistant that projected a laser “display” onto the user’s hand — launched in 2024 to intense attention and harsh reviews. Critics cited poor performance, short battery life and overheating. The company later recalled its charging case over a lithium battery fire hazard and announced it would wind down the product, with core services scheduled to shut off in early 2025 after an asset sale to HP.

Rabbit’s r1, a bright-orange handheld device pitched as running a “large action model” to operate apps and services on a user’s behalf, drew similar skepticism. Technologists quickly showed that the core software could run as a standard Android app, undercutting claims that dedicated hardware was required. Reviewers described the product as underpowered and incomplete compared with existing smartphones.

Larger technology companies have had mixed results. Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, which integrate cameras and an AI assistant into traditional eyewear, have seen steady updates and relatively strong sales in a narrow category. Apple’s Vision Pro headset, launched in 2024, has been praised for technical sophistication but criticized for its high price and limited mainstream appeal.

Those examples mean OpenAI will debut its device in a market where consumers, critics and regulators have already seen AI gadgets overpromise and underdeliver.

A bet on revenue, infrastructure and control

Behind the product is a broader strategic and economic calculation.

OpenAI has grown rapidly since releasing ChatGPT in late 2022, reporting hundreds of millions of users and billions of dollars in annual revenue from subscriptions and cloud-based access to its models. At the same time, the company faces soaring bills for computing infrastructure and energy-hungry data centers.

In March 2025, OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank at a reported $300 billion valuation, one of the largest private financings on record. SoftBank now holds an estimated 11% stake in the company and is a partner in large-scale infrastructure projects, including a plan known as “Stargate” to build massive AI data centers in the United States.

A successful consumer device could deepen OpenAI’s relationship with end users and create new, recurring revenue streams through hardware sales and ongoing AI services tied to the device. It would also give OpenAI more control over the interface between its models and consumers, rather than relying entirely on platforms owned by Apple, Google, Microsoft and others.

OpenAI has not outlined a business model, but industry analysts say choices such as whether the device requires a monthly subscription, and at what price, will determine how widely it can spread.

Policy, inequality and privacy questions

Lehane’s role as the public face of the hardware timeline underscores the political dimension of putting an AI assistant on people’s bodies and into their homes.

A veteran Democratic operative who worked in the Clinton White House and served as press secretary to former Vice President Al Gore, Lehane built his reputation as a crisis manager before leading global policy at Airbnb. He joined OpenAI in 2024 to run its global affairs, lobbying and public policy efforts.

In recent months, Lehane has described AI systems as “critical infrastructure” and has warned of a “capability gap” between people and countries that effectively adopt AI and those that do not. Speaking in Davos this week, he said AI tools could allow individuals to generate several times more economic value than they do today.

That framing raises questions about how widely OpenAI’s hardware will be available and at what cost. If the device becomes an important tool for productivity — handling communications, scheduling, research and transactions on a user’s behalf — it could widen existing inequalities if it is affordable only to wealthier consumers or regions with strong connectivity.

The nature of the product also poses privacy and security issues that regulators are only beginning to address. A context-aware device that continuously listens for commands, observes surroundings or tracks location will collect large volumes of sensitive data about both its owner and people nearby.

Lawmakers and regulators in the United States, European Union and elsewhere are already scrutinizing the use of always-on microphones and cameras in consumer products. Existing privacy statutes, including Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation and state-level laws in the United States, are likely to shape what OpenAI can do with data gathered by its device, how long it can store it and how users may control or delete it.

Earlier AI hardware failures add another risk: dependence on cloud services that can be turned off. Owners of Humane’s AI Pin, for example, face losing core functionality when the company shuts down its servers. OpenAI has not said how long it would support its own hardware or whether any capabilities would work offline if cloud access is interrupted.

An unveiling with more questions than answers

For now, the company is offering little more than a year and a half on the calendar.

Lehane’s comments in Davos mean that by the time global leaders return to the Swiss Alps in late 2026, OpenAI expects to have shown the device it has spent years and billions of dollars preparing. The form it takes, how it will be used and who will be able to afford it remain open questions.

What is clear is that OpenAI is moving to anchor its AI software in a dedicated piece of hardware, betting that consumers will trust the company not just with their queries and documents, but with a steady stream of data from their daily lives.