Apple said on January 29, 2026, that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup working on artificial intelligence technology for audio.
Apple did not disclose the terms of the acquisition. A source familiar with the matter said the deal valued Q.ai at about US$1.6 billion. The Financial Times said the transaction valued the four-year-old startup at close to US$2 billion, citing people familiar with the terms. A blog post by Q.ai backer GV described the deal as Apple's second-largest acquisition. Apple's largest acquisition remains its US$3 billion purchase of Beats in 2014.
Apple said Q.ai has developed new applications of machine learning designed to help devices understand whispered speech and enhance audio in challenging environments. Apple did not say how it plans to use the technology.
Q.ai last year filed a patent application describing the use of "facial skin micromovements" to detect words mouthed or spoken, identify individuals, and assess indicators including emotions, heart rate and respiration rate.
The technology could be applied in headphones or glasses, allowing communication without speaking, according to patent filings.
Employees to join Apple; PrimeSense links
Q.ai's roughly 100 employees, including CEO Aviad Maizels and co-founders Yonatan Wexler and Avi Barliya, will join Apple.
Maizels previously founded PrimeSense, a three-dimensional sensing company Apple acquired in 2013. That acquisition helped Apple move away from fingerprint sensors on its iPhones and toward facial recognition technology.
"Joining Apple opens extraordinary possibilities for pushing boundaries and realizing the full potential of what we've created," Maizels said.
Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, described Q.ai as "a remarkable company that is pioneering new and creative ways to use imaging and machine learning," adding that Apple was "thrilled to acquire the company, with Aviad at the helm."
Background and recent AI features
Q.ai was founded in Tel Aviv in 2022 and has operated largely in secrecy. Some members of its team previously worked at PrimeSense, whose technology later became a key part of Apple's Face ID system.
Apple has added new AI features to its AirPods earbuds in recent years, including technology introduced last year that enables speech translation between languages.
Article edited by Jerry Chen
