Plaud launches a new AI hardware notetaker, the $179 Note Pro | TechCrunch

Hardware company Plaud.ai released its new physical notetaker, the Plaud AI Pro, on Wednesday. The notetaker, priced at $179, comes two years after the original Plaud Note was released, and a year after the company released an AI pin.

For people who haven’t seen one, the Plaud Note is a credit-card-sized hardware notetaker, which can stick on the back of your phone and help you take notes for calls or in-person meetings.

The Note Pro looks similar to the original Note, but there’s one major difference. The new device has a small 0.95-inch AMOLED screen, which shows information like a recording indicator and battery level.

The Note Pro offers a 30-hour recording capacity for the standard range. But you can push the device to record for 50 hours with a shorter range of 9.8 feet (nearly 3 meters) on a single charge.

The company said that the Note Pro has four MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) mics, compared with two on the last-gen device, to better capture audio. Because of this, the Note Pro can capture audio within the range of 16.4 feet (nearly 5 meters), resulting in a 2x jump in range from the original Note Pro. The startup said users will get better noise suppression and speaker detection with the new device, as well.

While you had to manually switch between calls and in-person recording on the original Note, the Note Pro uses an auto-detection feature for this.

Plaud.ai is also updating its companion app with new features. You can take notes in text on your phone — just like Granola — and add images, like slides.

The app update also offers “multidimensional summaries,” which allow you to extract insights in different formats, such as key insights or data items. The company built templates for summary generation, and the app can automatically suggest the right one based on your role. Plus, you can build your own templates.

Another new feature, still in beta, allows you to query your notes.

The Plaud Note Pro is priced at $179/£169, and users can preorder the device starting today, with shipping slated for October 2025. The company said people preordering the device will get 600 complimentary transcription minutes along with a magnetic case. Users can get 300 minutes of monthly transcription for free, and if they want more, they need to buy a paid monthly plan or a one-time top-up.

Plaud is one of the companies that has been successfully chugging along when other AI device makers haven’t had a lot of popularity. Exor-backed Bee got acquired by Amazon, and Friend just started shipping after a few delays.

Plaud said that it has shipped over a million units of its AI hardware notetakers, with nearly 50% users upgrading to the Pro plan.