OpenAI's first consumer hardware device will be a donut-shaped smart speaker priced between $300 and $400, Bloomberg reported on August 6, 2026. The device is meant to be carried around the home and placed on surfaces like a bedside table or kitchen counter. It will be made from "high-quality metal," have a "premium look," and feature distinct "moving parts."

The speaker is being developed with help from LoveFrom, a design studio founded by Jony Ive. Ive is the former chief design officer at Apple, where he led the design of the iPhone, iPad, and much of Apple's signature look. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman wrote the report, building on his earlier July 14, 2026 article that described the device as a "movable, screenless speaker built as AI companion." The new details fill in the shape, materials, and price that earlier reporting had only estimated.

Bloomberg reports the device will likely ship at some point in 2027. That timeline matches earlier coverage: Forbes placed the release in 2027 on July 14, and Fast Company reported on July 15 that the screenless speaker could arrive "commercially as soon as 2027."

The August 6 Bloomberg report updates earlier pricing. The Information reported in February that OpenAI planned to price the device between $200 and $300, a range echoed by 9to5Google and Mashable. Bloomberg's $300–$400 figure, published six months later, is now the most recent and authoritative pricing estimate.

The device's components have been described across multiple Bloomberg reports. They include a camera, speakers, microphones, and lights. Earlier reporting from The Information and 9to5Google had flagged the camera as early as February. The screenless design sets it apart from smart displays like Amazon's Echo Show or Google's Nest Hub, which have screens that show information. OpenAI's device is closer to a voice-first companion — something you talk to rather than look at.

The camera's presence on a screenless device raises questions about what it does. Mashable previously suggested the camera could support facial recognition, meaning the device could identify who is standing in front of it. Whether the camera in the final Bloomberg-described device serves that purpose remains unconfirmed.

OpenAI has been building the technology for a voice-first device for several months. The company announced GPT-Live on July 8, 2026, describing it as a new generation of voice models designed to make conversation with AI feel more natural. The Information reported in January that OpenAI had brought teams together to improve audio AI models ahead of the device, with a new audio model offering more natural, accurate, and emotive output. In March, The Information further reported that OpenAI was developing a "bidirectional" audio model. In plain terms, bidirectional means you and the device can talk at the same time, the way people do in real conversation, rather than taking strict turns like you do with current voice assistants such as Alexa or Siri.

The hardware effort is not small. The Information reported in February that OpenAI has a roughly 200-person team working on smart speakers and glasses, according to an interview with AI reporter Stephanie Palazzolo.

OpenAI has also hired two law firms, Cooley and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, The Information reported in March. Those hires take on added weight given the legal landscape: Apple sued OpenAI accusing the AI lab of stealing trade secrets, and OpenAI denied wrongdoing, TechCrunch reported. The LoveFrom partnership matters here. Jony Ive spent nearly three decades at Apple, where he led the design of the iPhone, iPad, and much of the company's design language. Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI creates a situation where the design studio founded by Apple's former design chief is working with a company Apple is actively suing.

MacRumors reported the August 6 details, describing the device as hockey puck-sized and citing Bloomberg's pricing range.

Looking at the competitive landscape, a $300–$400 voice-first AI companion enters a market that Amazon and Google have dominated at lower prices. Echo and Nest audio devices typically retail well below $200. OpenAI's premium positioning, metal construction, and LoveFrom design pedigree suggest the company is not competing on price but on the quality of the conversational AI experience. GPT-Live's promise of natural, real-time conversation, combined with the bidirectional audio model, could make the difference between a device that feels like talking to a speaker and one that feels like talking to someone in the room.

The moving parts Bloomberg references are unspecified. They could be as simple as a tilting camera or as complex as a device that physically changes shape. The detail is interesting because a traditional smart speaker has no moving parts at all.

The 2027 release window gives OpenAI roughly 18 months to finalize hardware, software, and presumably a developer ecosystem. For a company that has never shipped a consumer hardware product, that is a tight timeline, though not an impossible one.

The broader question is whether conversational AI has reached the point where a voice-only, screenless device can deliver an experience good enough to justify a premium price in a category where consumers have been conditioned to expect far less. We have seen this pattern before, when early smartphones cost two or three times what a basic flip phone did. The added capability eventually closed that gap, but not for every buyer and not on day one. OpenAI is making a similar bet: that the quality of the conversation itself will be worth the difference between a $150 Echo and a $400 device with no screen.