OpenAI Buys AI Camera Startup For Over $300M, Says Report — Glass Imaging Deal Puts Focus On Consumer Devices

The deal with Glass Imaging gives OpenAI access to former Apple camera engineers and technology designed to bring DSLR-quality imaging to smartphones.

• Glass Imaging was valued at around $100 million in a funding round in 2025 before OpenAI’s acquisition pushed its reported value above $300 million.
• Founders Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop previously worked on Apple’s camera technology, including the iPhone’s portrait-mode feature.
• The startup combines hardware and software to improve smartphone cameras, with its zoom-imaging technology already featured in Honor phones.

OpenAI has reportedly acquired Glass Imaging, a startup working on AI-powered smartphone camera technology. The acquisition, completed quietly in recent months, valued Glass Imaging at more than $300 million, significantly above the roughly $100 million valuation it received in a funding round last year, reported The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.

The move comes as OpenAI steps up acquisitions and works on consumer devices ahead of an expected initial public offering next year.

AI-Powered Smartphone Cameras

Glass Imaging is developing technology that uses artificial intelligence to deliver smartphone photos with image quality comparable to a DSLR camera. The company was founded in 2019 by Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, both former Apple Inc. (AAPL) employees who worked on camera technology at the company, including its portrait-mode feature.

The founders believed smartphone camera technology had reached a point where improvements were becoming harder to achieve, the WSJ report stated.

Their approach was to combine hardware and software to develop a new type of smartphone camera. They wanted to build the business independently of Apple, allowing them to rethink camera technology without working around Apple’s wider priorities for the iPhone.

Link To OpenAI’s Device Plans

It is not clear how OpenAI intends to use Glass Imaging’s technology. The ChatGPT developer has been working with Jony Ive, the former Apple executive who played a big role in designing the iPhone, on a secretive device, according to the WSJ report.

OpenAI brought Ive into the company in 2025 through its $6.5 billion acquisition of his startup, io Products. His responsibilities include consumer devices and other projects aimed at shaping the future look and feel of AI.

Before the acquisition, Glass Imaging had secured about $30 million from investors including GV, Alphabet’s venture arm, and Insight Partners. Its zoom-imaging technology was later incorporated into a new range of smartphones from Chinese budget-phone maker Honor.

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