For months, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and legendary former Apple designer Jony Ive have kept their collaborative hardware project wrapped in secrecy. But speaking at Emerson Collective's 2025 Demo Day with Laurene Powell Jobs, the pair finally confirmed they've got something tangible: a prototype that apparently checks all the boxes.

What We Know About the Device

Details remain sparse, but the device is reportedly screenless and about the size of a smartphone. More interesting than the specs, though, is how Altman and Ive talk about it. Altman called the design "simple and beautiful and playful," which sounds very on-brand for an Ive creation.

Here's where it gets fun. Altman explained that an earlier prototype left him feeling underwhelmed: "I did not have any feeling of, 'I want to pick up that thing and take a bite out of it,' and then finally we got there all of a sudden." That visceral reaction—wanting to bite into your gadget—is apparently the design standard we're working with now.

When Altman said he hopes people will see it and think, "That's it!," Ive responded with confidence: "Yeah, they will."

Ive elaborated on his design philosophy, saying he loves "solutions that teeter on appearing almost naive in their simplicity" and products "that you want to touch, and you feel no intimidation, and you want to use almost carelessly, that you use them almost without thought, that they're just tools."

As for timing, Ive suggested a launch could happen in "less than" two years. So maybe 2026 or early 2027, if everything goes according to plan.