OpenAI buys smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging for $300 million, report says

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OpenAI has acquired Glass Imaging for over $300 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The Los Altos-based startup was founded in 2019 by Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, who previously led the Apple team behind Portrait Mode. Glass Imaging had raised approximately $30 million in venture funding before the deal. The company's core technology uses neural networks trained on individual camera hardware — learning the optical characteristics of specific smartphone camera systems to produce better images in real time, at the moment of capture rather than through post-processing. This is a meaningfully different approach: rather than applying filters after the fact, the AI is embedded in the image acquisition pipeline itself. This acquisition fits a clear pattern. In 2025, OpenAI paid $6.5 billion for io, the device startup co-founded by Jony Ive and Sam Altman. Rumors of OpenAI working on smartphones, earbuds, and AI companion devices have circulated for some time. Glass Imaging adds computational photography expertise that would be critical for any consumer hardware effort requiring competitive camera performance. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment and has not confirmed the acquisition, so specifics remain unverified. The deal valuation implies roughly a 10x multiple on Glass Imaging's raised capital, suggesting OpenAI paid a significant premium for the team's expertise and IP.