Hanneke Faber argues that dedicated AI devices have yet to justify themselves as Logitech focuses on practical integrations.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
Logitech's chief executive officer is questioning the widsom of rushing into standalone AI hardware. In an interview with Bloomberg, marking her second anniversary in the role, Hanneke Faber made comments have following several high-profile attempts at screenless or companion-style AI devices struggling to establish a market, while Logitech pulls revenue back to pre-pandemic levels and expands its AI features inside more traditional peripherals.
Faber argued that the wave of AI-first gadgets released over the past year remains untethered from a clear purpose. Products such as the Humane AI Pin — acquired by HP in February — and Rabbit R1 launched with the promise of replacing parts of the smartphone experience, only to draw criticism for slow performance, limited features, and subscription-driven pricing.
Their reception has shaped the debate around whether a general-purpose assistant belongs in a dedicated device at all. According to Faber, these early efforts solve little that a phone or PC cannot already handle, which is a view that has gained traction as both devices incorporate larger on-device models and tighter integrations with cloud assistants.
So, rather than building a new class of hardware around conversational AI, the company has been introducing features that sit inside established categories. Its webcams already use subject-aware framing and noise filtering, and the recently announced MX Master 4 mouse includes shortcuts that tie directly into ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. Faber framed this as a matter of discipline: the company ships roughly three dozen products each year and follows a roadmap planned for several cycles ahead, so additions must justify themselves within familiar workflows.
The interview also touched on supply chain stability and pricing. Logitech raised prices early in the year following tariff changes, but does not expect further increases now that it has stabilized its supply chain across China and five additional countries. Faber described the diversification as a factor in restoring consistency across the firm’s 13 product categories, most of which have returned to volumes near their pandemic peaks. Growth in China has been particularly strong, helped by a locally led product strategy that the company adopted to arrest previous market share losses.
Faber’s comments on AI devices come as other large firms explore their own hardware concepts. OpenAI’s acquisition of a startup co-founded by Jony Ive has fuelled speculation about a consumer device built around generative models. Whether that will avoid the pitfalls that dogged earlier launches is unclear, but Faber’s assessment underlines how difficult it is to create demand for a standalone assistant when multifunction devices continue to carry out the same capabilities.
Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.
