OpenAI reportedly buys camera-tech startup Glass Imaging for over $300M+

OpenAI has bought smartphone camera maker Glass Imaging in a deal worth over $300 million, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The Los Altos, California-based company, founded in 2019, had previously raised about $30 million in funding from investors.

Glass Imaging was founded by Ziv Attar and Tom Bishop, two former Apple engineers who previously led the team that developed Apple’s Portrait Mode. That background directly informs the company’s current work: rather than using AI to edit a photo after it’s taken, Glass Imaging uses neural networks to learn about individual camera systems — such as the different cameras across various smartphone models — to produce better images from the moment the shutter clicks, working around the physical size constraints of smartphone cameras.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The ChatGPT maker is rumored to be working on its own hardware, including smartphones, earbuds, and AI companion devices. In 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple designer Jony Ive revealed they had been working together on a device startup called io, when OpenAI bought Ive’s company for $6.5 billion.

Why it matters

A camera-optimization acquisition fits a company reportedly building its own hardware line, suggesting OpenAI wants to control image quality at the device level rather than relying on partners’ camera systems.