I think the donut shape is actually pretty clever for this. As stated by the article it has camera(s), and my bet is that it has enough of them that no matter how you throw that thing around, it always has 360 visibility around it. If the cameras were pointed partially towards the inside of the donut you'd also get some valuable depth information derived from having overlap with adjacent cameras...
Same goes for the microphones and speakers, place at least 3 of them evenly around the donut for some nice beamforming.
> And the design should help it stand out from current smart speakers, a category dominated by Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
I'm not sure how good OpenAI's device will have to be to be a success. The iPhone became a hit because it did what everyones phone did (calls and text) but had other cool features that other phones didn't and people upgraded phones every few years. I'm assuming that Amazon, Google, and Apple etc have teams working on better voice control and features that they'll roll out to existing speakers when or before OpenAI release a device.
Google is killing the Assistant on phones and replacing it with Gemini. Oh joy, a simple speech to text plus command parsing gets replaced aith something that needs planet-burning processing power. And is slower.
At least Assistant still works on my "smart" clock, although it's getting slower that I wonder if they've replaced it with Gemini underneath.
Who wants a >$300 device that does what your phone already does, with the exception of OpenAI now being able to spy on you 24/7?
Doesn't produce consumer hardware directly conflict with the other company goal of building out as much compute as possible for AI, making consumer hardware unaffordable in the process? Isn't this a bet directly against that company strategy?
Gift article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-06/what-is-o...
I think the donut shape is actually pretty clever for this. As stated by the article it has camera(s), and my bet is that it has enough of them that no matter how you throw that thing around, it always has 360 visibility around it. If the cameras were pointed partially towards the inside of the donut you'd also get some valuable depth information derived from having overlap with adjacent cameras...
Same goes for the microphones and speakers, place at least 3 of them evenly around the donut for some nice beamforming.
> And the design should help it stand out from current smart speakers, a category dominated by Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
I'm not sure how good OpenAI's device will have to be to be a success. The iPhone became a hit because it did what everyones phone did (calls and text) but had other cool features that other phones didn't and people upgraded phones every few years. I'm assuming that Amazon, Google, and Apple etc have teams working on better voice control and features that they'll roll out to existing speakers when or before OpenAI release a device.
Google is killing the Assistant on phones and replacing it with Gemini. Oh joy, a simple speech to text plus command parsing gets replaced aith something that needs planet-burning processing power. And is slower.
At least Assistant still works on my "smart" clock, although it's getting slower that I wonder if they've replaced it with Gemini underneath.
The iPhone (or any smart phone) is multi-modal.
A smart speaker sounds like an AI system with disabilities.
> with moving parts and a doughnut shape
This.... does not sound like a design they would have stolen from Apple, unless Apple's design sensibilities have changed pretty drastically.
Although article does say Jony Ive collaborated.
https://maps.apple/p/0mZU6qFyXAEYRe
Yeah, Apple would never design a donut headquarters and make their employees live inside of it /s
Who wants a >$300 device that does what your phone already does, with the exception of OpenAI now being able to spy on you 24/7?
Doesn't produce consumer hardware directly conflict with the other company goal of building out as much compute as possible for AI, making consumer hardware unaffordable in the process? Isn't this a bet directly against that company strategy?
Who asked for this other than investors?
I think this company has lost the plot.
Gurman is looking to shift from being “The Apple Guy” to “The AI Hardware guy”
Oh. Oh no, it's the Bloomberg reporter that keeps getting Apple rumors wrong.
[dead]