Despite facing its second trade secret theft lawsuit in a little more than a year over its hardware ambitions, OpenAI still plans to unveil its first product this year and release it in 2027, Bloomberg reports. Here are the details.
First product announcement still planned for 2026
Last Friday, Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company and several former Apple employees of stealing confidential hardware information to advance OpenAI’s consumer-device ambitions.
The company details what it describes as “a pattern of theft of Apple’s trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple,” adding that “such misconduct is normalized and exemplified by leadership.”
The lawsuit added to OpenAI’s growing legal troubles over its hardware ambitions, following a separate case brought by startup iyO. Initially focused on branding, the lawsuit was later amended to include allegations of trade secret misappropriation.
Despite Friday’s news, OpenAI appears to be sticking to its hardware timeline for now. According to Bloomberg:
“In the immediate aftermath of the Apple filing, OpenAI still believes it is on track to announce its first product this year and release it in 2027, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. That could still change, however, as OpenAI digests Apple’s claims, the person said, asking not to be named discussing an internal matter.”
Since the announcement that OpenAI would join forces with Jony Ive’s io Products to create an AI-first device, several rumors have circulated about what, exactly, OpenAI has in store.
Immediately after the partnership was announced in May 2025, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said OpenAI’s first device would be a compact, screenless product designed to be worn around the neck, with cameras and microphones to capture the user’s surroundings and a smartphone providing computing and display capabilities.
The company, in turn, has alluded to plans for several devices rather than a single product, and said in a court filing in the iyO case that its first product will not be an in-ear or wearable device, as many speculated when the partnership was first announced.
To read Bloomberg‘s full report, follow this link.
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