Apple’s rare billion-dollar deal points to its next big bet

Apple has quietly acquired Israeli startup Q.ai in a deal reportedly worth close to $2 billion, marking one of the company’s largest acquisitions in recent years. Unlike many other competitors in Silicon Valley, Apple rarely makes a dramatic acquisition. The company’s largest acquisition is Beats, which was acquired in 2014 for $3 billion.

If the reports are to be believed, then Q.ai would be the second-largest acquisition by Apple in over a decade. The acquisition was confirmed by Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies, Johny Srouji, in a conversation with Reuters.

What does Q.ai actually do?

Despite its name, Q.ai is not a typical AI firm such as OpenAI or xAI. Rather, it is a firm that develops human-computer interaction technology. According to research, Q.ai is primarily engaged in the analysis of facial muscles and micro-expressions to decode what is termed silent speech.

Based on machine learning algorithms, the technology is capable of recognising minute lip and jaw movements to translate them into commands, even when there is no accompanying audio.

This technology could potentially enable users to control devices in a private manner without having to make any vocal commands. Although Q.ai does not have any publicly available product, its technology is presumed to be chip-level, which is in line with Apple’s hardware-first approach.

Q.ai was founded by Aviad Maizels, who previously sold PrimeSense to Apple in 2013. PrimeSense technology was later used in Face ID, making Maizels a familiar face within the Apple ecosystem. His background may have contributed to Apple’s confidence in the acquisition.

Moreover, Apple recently partnered with Google to utilise Gemini models for certain Apple Intelligence features, relieving it of the need to acquire a massive AI firm.