Apple Reportedly Purchases Israeli Audio AI Startup Q.ai Ahead Of Q1 Earnings

• All 100 employees at Q.ai, including its CEO Aviad Maizels and co-founders Yonatan Wexler and Avi Barliya, are expected to join Apple, as per the report. 
• According to a separate report from Financial Times, Apple paid nearly $2 billion for the startup.
• Apple will report its Q1 2026 results after-hours on Thursday.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) has reportedly acquired Israeli artificial intelligence (AI) audio startup Q.ai for an undisclosed amount.

According to a report from Reuters, the deal is backed by venture capital firms Matter Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital, Exor and GV, previously called Google Ventures.

The deal comes ahead of the iPhone maker’s first-quarter (Q1) 2026 earnings results, expected later on Thursday.

Shares of AAPL gained over 0.5% at the time of writing.

Deal Contours

All 100 employees at Q.ai, including its CEO Aviad Maizels and co-founders Yonatan Wexler and Avi Barliya, are expected to join Apple, as per the Reuters report.

While Apple did not reveal to Reuters how it plans to use Q.ai's technology, it said that the startup had experience on new machine learning applications that helped devices comprehend whispered speech and also improve audio in difficult environments.

According to a separate report from Financial Times, Apple paid nearly $2 billion for the startup as it gears up to build AI devices.

Q.ai "is a remarkable company that is pioneering new and creative ways to use imaging and machine learning," Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, said in a statement to Reuters. "We’re thrilled to acquire the company, with Aviad at the helm, and are even more excited for what’s to come.”

Meanwhile, Maizels told Reuters in a statement that teaming up with Apple would open up extraordinary possibilities for pushing boundaries and realizing the full potential of what the team at Q.ai has created so far.

Earnings Expectations

Apple will report its Q1 2026 results after-hours on Thursday. Investors will be eyeing the company’s revenue growth and iPhone sales after CEO Tim Cook said earlier that the December quarter is expected to be the best ever.

Wall Street expects the company to post revenue of $138.22 billion and earnings per share of $2.66, as per data on Fiscal.ai

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around AAPL shares remained in the ‘bullish’ territory over the past day, amid ‘high’ message volumes.

Shares of AAPL have risen more than 7.8% in the past year.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Also Read: Microsoft Reportedly Denies AI Co-Innovation Lab Partnership With Richtech Robotics, Calls Deal A ‘Customer Engagement’

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