A trillion-dollar gambit is taking shape as OpenAI reveals plans to release 100 million pocket-sized AI companions by the end of 2026, potentially reshaping how humans interact with technology in ways not seen since the iPhone revolution.
The audacious venture, developed in collaboration with former Apple design virtuoso Jony Ive and his startup io (which OpenAI is acquiring for a cool $6.5 billion), aims to create devices that understand their users’ surroundings and lives with unprecedented intimacy.
These AI companions—small enough to fit in a pocket or perch unobtrusively on a desk—represent OpenAI’s calculated bet that consumers are ready to embrace a “third core device” beyond their smartphones and laptops. The Grok3 model will power these devices, enabling sophisticated voice interaction, image recognition, and contextual reasoning with response times as low as 50 milliseconds. The devices’ multimodal capabilities will likely incorporate vision, voice, and contextual awareness, offering a screen-free experience that could disrupt the smartphone hegemony that has defined the past fifteen years of consumer technology.
OpenAI’s pocket AI companions represent a daring wager on humanity’s readiness to forge intimate bonds with a new technological paradigm.
What distinguishes this initiative from previous AI hardware forays is its ambition to become as indispensable as the iPhone—no small feat in a market littered with failed “revolutionary” devices. The project’s stealth development suggests OpenAI is acutely aware that execution, not merely conception, will determine whether these companions become ubiquitous or join the graveyard of overhyped gadgets¹. CEO Sam Altman has emphasized the need for extreme secrecy to prevent competitors from copying the device concept before launch.
The financial implications are staggering. Should OpenAI hit its shipping targets, the acquisition of io could retrospectively look like the bargain of the decade, potentially adding up to $1 trillion to OpenAI’s valuation. Ive’s involvement brings the ecosystem-design philosophy that transformed Apple, with the promise of deep hardware-software integration that has eluded most AI hardware efforts. Like the evolution we’re seeing in cryptocurrency markets, this represents a shift from speculative technology to practical utility that could fundamentally change how we interact with digital systems.
The companions’ promised environmental awareness and proactive assistance capabilities suggest a device that doesn’t merely respond to queries but anticipates needs—a quantum leap from today’s passive digital assistants. Whether consumers will welcome such intimate technological companions into their lives remains the trillion-dollar question that OpenAI is betting affirmatively on.
¹Remember Google Glass? Precisely.
