Apple has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup specialising in imaging and machine learning, as the race to dominate the next phase of artificial intelligence gathers pace. The deal, reportedly valued at close to $2 billion, is Apple’s second-largest acquisition to date, after its $3-billion purchase of Beats Electronics in 2014.
The acquisition underscores Apple’s growing focus on AI-driven hardware, particularly in audio.
Q.ai enables devices to interpret whispered speech and enhance audio quality in noisy environments—capabilities that could be folded into products such as AirPods, where Apple has been steadily rolling out new AI features, including live translation introduced last year. Q.ai has also built technology to detect subtle facial muscle movements, which could be used to enhance Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
The startup, founded in 2022, has remained largely in stealth and has not publicly released a product, though its website suggested it was working on audio-related applications.
The company is led by chief executive Aviad Maizels, who previously founded PrimeSense, the 3D-sensing firm acquired by Apple in 2013 for reportedly $360 million. PrimeSense’s technology was instrumental in the iPhone’s shift from fingerprint sensors to facial recognition.
Backed by investors including Kleiner Perkins and Gradient Ventures, Q.ai’s founding team—Maizels, alongside co-founders Yonatan Wexler and Avi Barliya—will join Apple as part of the deal.
The news comes ahead of Apple’s latest quarterly earnings, in which the company reported a 16% year-on-year rise in revenue, driven by its strongest iPhone sales growth in four years following the launch of the iPhone 17.
Some investors have been pressing Apple to make a major AI acquisition as rivals pour billions into advanced models and the infrastructure required to run them. Apple, meanwhile, has faced delays in rolling out features such as a more personalised, app-aware Siri.
Historically, Apple has favoured smaller, targeted acquisitions that bring in specific technologies to be embedded across its ecosystem. Earlier this month, the company also partnered with Google to power selected Apple Intelligence features with Gemini models.
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