OpenAI's long-rumored first piece of consumer hardware may turn out to be a small, screenless smart speaker shaped like a doughnut.
According to a Bloomberg report described by Business Standard, the device is OpenAI's opening move into AI-first consumer hardware, and the report adds fresh detail on its design, price, and positioning. Coverage of the leak by NewsCord says the puck-like speaker will include moving parts, carry a price of roughly $300 to $400, and arrive in 2027. Seeking Alpha similarly reports the speaker will cost over $300 and be hockey-puck-sized. Times Now, writing for Indian readers, pegs the cost at around Rs 30,000 and frames it as the first AI-focused consumer device from the Sam Altman-led company. Mashable and other outlets have focused on the shape itself: a speaker reportedly styled "like a doughnut."
The screenless design is the most telling detail. Where phones and laptops assume you look at them, a speaker with no display assumes you talk to it — which fits a company whose core product, ChatGPT, is fundamentally conversational. Business Standard ties the device to Jony Ive, the former Apple design chief now working with OpenAI, and to the company's broader ambition to build hardware around AI rather than bolt AI onto existing gadgets.
A 2027 date is a long way off, and everything here comes from leaks rather than OpenAI itself. Prices, shapes, and ship dates all routinely change between a report like this and an actual product launch.
It matters because it is the clearest signal yet that OpenAI intends to sell you a physical object, not just a subscription — putting it in direct competition with Amazon's Echo, Google's smart speakers, and eventually the phone in your pocket.