---
title: "Apple buys startup Q.ai in its second-largest acquisition ever"
description: "According to the Financial Times, the price is around $2 billion. Q.ai has technology that understands whispered speech."
url: https://kurddevelopers.com/en/news/apple-acquires-q-ai
language: en # English
type: news
published: 2026-01-29T16:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-11-01T22:23:17.000Z
author: "Osamah Ismail"
author_url: https://kurddevelopers.com/en/author/1
section: "AI"
tags: ["Apple","Q.ai","Acquisition","AI","Vision Pro"]
sources: ["Reuters","Financial Times","TechCrunch"]
image: https://kurddevelopers.com/uploads/2026/11/apple-logo-og-e918e3fa.jpg
translations:
  ku: https://kurddevelopers.com/news/apple-acquires-q-ai
  ar: https://kurddevelopers.com/ar/news/apple-acquires-q-ai
publisher: Kurd Developers
publisher_url: https://kurddevelopers.com/
---

# Apple buys startup Q.ai in its second-largest acquisition ever

> According to the Financial Times, the price is around $2 billion. Q.ai has technology that understands whispered speech.

![Image: Apple](https://kurddevelopers.com/uploads/2026/11/apple-logo-og-e918e3fa.jpg)

According to **Reuters**, Apple has acquired **Q.ai**, an imaging and machine learning startup.

## The price

According to the **Financial Times**, the deal is worth around **$2 billion**, making it **Apple's second-largest acquisition** after Beats ($3 billion, 2014).

## What does Q.ai do?

- Technology that understands **whispered speech**
- Improves audio in noisy environments
- Reportedly, technology that detects **subtle facial muscle movements**, which could be used for **Vision Pro**

## Who joins Apple?

Q.ai CEO **Aviad Maizels** sold **PrimeSense** to Apple in 2013, the technology behind Face ID. He joins Apple along with Yonatan Wexler and Avi Barliya.

Q.ai was founded in 2022 and backed by Kleiner Perkins and GV.

**Sources:** Reuters, Financial Times, TechCrunch

---

Published by [Kurd Developers](https://kurddevelopers.com/) on 2026-01-29. Cite as: “Apple buys startup Q.ai in its second-largest acquisition ever”, Kurd Developers, https://kurddevelopers.com/en/news/apple-acquires-q-ai