Your iPhone may soon understand what you are saying from your facial expressions

Apple's acquisition of AI startup Q.ai could allow future iPhones to understand whispered or mouthed words by reading subtle facial movements. Here is the full story.

Apple may be getting closer to a future where your iPhone doesn’t just listen to you, but also understands what you’re trying to say by watching your face. The company has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli artificial intelligence startup that works on advanced audio and imaging technologies. Apple confirmed the acquisition on Thursday but did not share financial details. However, people familiar with the deal told Reuters that Q.ai was valued at around $1.6 billion, while another report puts the figure close to $2 billion, making it Apple’s second-largest acquisition after Beats.

Q.ai specialises in using machine learning to improve how devices handle sound, especially in difficult situations. The startup has been working on technology that helps devices understand whispered speech and clean up audio in noisy environments. But what has caught wider attention is Q.ai’s work on detecting tiny movements in facial skin to understand words that are mouthed or softly spoken.

Last year, the company filed a patent describing how these “facial skin micromovements” could be used to read speech, identify a person, and even estimate emotional state, heart rate and breathing patterns. In simple terms, this could allow future Apple devices to figure out what you are saying even when your voice is barely audible, or possibly not audible at all.

Apple has not said exactly how it plans to use Q.ai’s technology. Still, the acquisition fits neatly into where the company has been heading. Over the past year, Apple has been steadily adding AI-powered features to its products, especially in audio. Its AirPods already support live language translation, and Apple has been exploring smarter ways for devices to adapt to real-world sound conditions.

The technology could also play a role beyond the iPhone. Apple has been developing systems that detect subtle facial muscle activity, something that could improve experiences on devices like the Vision Pro headset, where hands-free interaction is a priority.

All of Q.ai’s roughly 100 employees, including CEO Aviad Maizels and co-founders Yonatan Wexler and Avi Barliya, will join Apple. For Maizels, this is familiar territory. In 2013, he sold his earlier company, PrimeSense, to Apple. That acquisition later helped Apple move away from fingerprint sensors and build the facial recognition system now used in iPhones.