Apple CEO Tim Cook joins Apple employees at the Apple store as customers line up for the release of Apple new iPhone 17 models in New York on Sept. 19, 2025.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
Apple has acquired Israeli artificial intelligence startup Q.ai, a company representative confirmed on Thursday. No purchase price was disclosed.
Q.ai was secretive and had not publicly shared a product, but its website suggests it was working on something related to audio. The startup was led by CEO Aviad Maizels, who previously sold PrimeSense to Apple in 2013.
“We’re thrilled to acquire the company, with Aviad at the helm, and are even more excited for what’s to come,” Johny Srouji, Apple senior vice president of hardware technologies, told Reuters, which first reported the news. Srouji leads Apple’s chip development.
The company was backed by investors including GV (Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins and Spark Capital, according to PitchBook, which says Q.ai was working on a “communication enhancement technology.”
Apple’s AirPods have been upgraded with AI in recent years, including a live translation feature and intelligent noise cancelling that can tell when the user is in a conversation.
Some investors have called on Apple to make a big acquisition in AI as its megacap peers pour money into cutting-edge models and the infrastructure to run them. Meanwhile, Apple’s products, like a more personal Siri that can use apps, have faced delays.
Apple more commonly buys smaller companies with specific technologies that it can integrate into its products. Apple also announced a deal with Google earlier this month to have its Gemini models power some Apple Intelligence features.
“We’re very open to M&A that accelerates our roadmap,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in July.
PrimeSense, Maizels’ prior startup, developed technology that allowed sensors to detect the distance between objects, and was integrated into Apple’s Face ID sensor starting in 2017.
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