OpenAI’s first consumer hardware product is a portable smart speaker designed to move from room to room and act as a human-like AI companion in your home, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. This device is still in development and has not been confirmed by OpenAI.
The device is expected to control smart home appliances, play media, answer questions and respond to messages through natural conversations, Bloomberg reports. Cameras and sensors allow it to recognize its surroundings, and a rechargeable battery allows it to be used from room to room. According to Bloomberg, the device is designed to become more personalized over time, learning its owner’s habits and anticipating their needs.
TechCrunch reports that the company plans to announce the device in the second half of 2026, but has not specified a release date. Court filings cited by Built In indicate the product will not ship until February 2027. Also, another trademark dispute with hearing aid startup iYo means the device will no longer be called “io,” Built In reported.
Statista predicts that global retail e-commerce will exceed $8 trillion by 2028. WARC, citing data from GroupM, reported that digital advertising is expected to exceed $1 trillion globally by 2026. Much of that spending is related to facilitating product discovery through screens, and screenless AI companions that become the primary interface for purchase call both models into question.
As PYMNTS reported, when AI agents complete purchases on behalf of consumers, the traditional approval chain breaks down. There are no humans at the register, and there is never a moment when an actual human checks your cart. Identity, authentication, fraud prevention, and payment credentials all need to work without anyone interacting with the screen.
There are no hits yet in the AI hardware category.
This device falls into the category where failures are commonplace. Dataconomy reports that Humane raised $230 million from investors including Sam Altman and launched AI Pins for $699 in April 2024, but canceled it completely by February 2025 after returns exceeded the purchase price from May to August 2024. HP then acquired Humane’s assets for $116 million, even though fewer than 10,000 units were shipped. This is just a fraction of the maximum valuation of up to $1 billion.
The Rabbit R1 sold 100,000 units after its debut at CES 2024, but was met with widespread criticism as the shipped product could not match many of the demos, Digital Applied reported. Both products highlighted how difficult it is to convince consumers to adopt new AI hardware categories.
OpenAI has architectural advantages that previous versions did not have. According to Bloomberg, the $6.5 billion acquisition of io Products brought in Jony Ive, whose LoveFrom studio led the design, along with former Apple engineers who developed the iPhone and Mac. The reported design suggests it could compete more directly with home smart speakers than with smartphones, a clearer use case than the one that marred both Humane and Rabbit.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on July 10, alleging that trade secrets were used to accelerate device development. OpenAI denied wrongdoing. Analysts said the lawsuit could complicate OpenAI’s hardware roadmap, the paper said.
Screenless commerce requires payment infrastructure that doesn’t yet exist
According to PYMNTS Intelligence, 45% of U.S. consumers would feel comfortable having an AI agent complete a purchase on their behalf, rising to 54% among Gen Z. However, 95% reported at least one concern and only half said they would trust Agent Commerce even with fraud protection in place.
PYMNTS Intelligence’s May 2026 Consumer AI Benchmark also found that tasks involving discovery and comparison emerge as a natural fit for AI, while payments and irrevocable decisions trigger a demand for human oversight.
The reported OpenAI device is designed to fit perfectly into a scenario where consumers say they’re not ready to delegate. Whether that changes as the device spends months learning your habits and building a context in which recommendations feel trustworthy is a question the product must answer. Human and Rabbit couldn’t answer that. OpenAI is betting it can do it.
