OpenAI has acquired smartphone camera startup Glass Imaging in a deal valued at more than $300 million, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The reported deal marks a significant jump from the roughly $100 million valuation Glass Imaging reached in a 2025 funding round. Neither OpenAI nor Glass Imaging has publicly confirmed the acquisition and it remains unclear how OpenAI plans to use the startup’s technology.
Founded in 2019 and based in Los Altos, California, Glass Imaging was started by former Apple engineers Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, who were part of the team behind Apple’s Portrait Mode. The company uses AI to address the hardware limitations of smartphone cameras, training neural networks for individual camera systems to improve image quality at the point of capture rather than relying primarily on post-processing. Its technology has previously been used in Honor smartphones.
Glass Imaging has raised around $30 million from investors including GV and Insight Partners. The startup’s technology is designed to deliver smartphone images closer to the quality associated with DSLR cameras by using AI to enhance the capabilities of existing camera hardware.
The reported acquisition comes as OpenAI is rumoured to be expanding into consumer hardware. The company is reportedly exploring devices including a smartphone, earbuds and an AI companion device. The move also follows OpenAI’s $6.5 billion acquisition of designer Jony Ive’s device startup io in 2025, signalling the company’s broader ambitions in consumer hardware.
