Former Apple designer Jony Ive
According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, OpenAI and Jony Ive are planning a neck-worn AI device with a similar form factor to the iPod Shuffle.
TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed on X that the new AI device from Jony Ive and OpenAI is expected to enter mass production in 2027. In his post, he said the prototype is slightly larger than Humane’s (failed) AI Pin but remains as compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle.
The device won’t include a display and is designed to be worn around the neck, using cameras and microphones for environmental awareness. It will connect to smartphones and PCs for computing power and display output, positioning it squarely in the emerging category of ambient, screenless AI.
OpenAI acquires Jony Ive’s startup to bring hardware vision to life
Kuo’s tweet followed news that OpenAI is acquiring Ive’s hardware startup, LoveFrom’s subsidiary “io,” in a deal worth around $6.5 billion. OpenAI plans to release its first products from the collaboration in 2026, with full-scale production coming the following year.
My industry research indicates the following regarding the new AI hardware device from Jony Ive’s collaboration with OpenAI:
1. Mass production is expected to start in 2027.
2. Assembly and shipping will occur outside China to reduce geopolitical risks, with Vietnam currently the pic.twitter.com/5IELYEjNyV— (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) May 22, 2025
The partnership is intended to bring Ive’s industrial design expertise into OpenAI’s ecosystem as the company moves beyond software and into the physical world.
By manufacturing the device outside China, OpenAI and Ive are also signaling a deliberate move to avoid geopolitical risks. That supply chain shift echoes Apple’s own recent efforts to diversify production beyond China.
What it means for Apple and the future of AI devices
This project represents a major push into what analysts call “physical AI,” where artificial intelligence moves off the screen and into wearable, voice-activated, and context-aware devices. While companies like Meta and Google have dabbled in ambient computing, OpenAI has lacked a hardware strategy — until now.
For Apple users, the new device could be the first serious alternative to AirPods or Apple Watch for passive, always-available AI support. The lack of a screen, paired with camera and audio input, suggests a future where interaction happens naturally, without the need to pull out a phone or look at a display.
That’s a sharp contrast with Apple’s Vision Pro headset or iPhone-first approach, and it could pressure Apple to accelerate its own ambient computing roadmap. The iPod Shuffle comparison is a deliberate callback to a time when Apple changed how we interacted with music by making hardware almost invisible.
OpenAI and Ive appear to be chasing that same level of cultural integration, this time for AI. Whether it becomes the next iPhone or the next AI novelty will depend on execution, ecosystem, and how ready the public is to embrace a new kind of wearable intelligence.
