Ahead of CES in Las Vegas, Plaud is making a quiet but pointed move in the crowded AI productivity space. The company has unveiled the Plaud NotePin S, a wearable AI notetaker, alongside a new desktop meeting notetaker app designed to capture and summarize digital meetings automatically.
It’s a clear signal that Plaud no longer wants to live only in the world of in-person conversations. It wants your virtual meetings too.
A wearable that keeps things simple
The NotePin S builds on Plaud’s earlier pin-style recorder, but this time the hardware feels more deliberate. There’s now a physical button that lets users start and stop recording instantly—and tap again to mark important moments during a conversation.
That tactile control matters. In fast-moving meetings, fiddling with apps often means missing context. A single button lowers the friction, which is exactly the point.
At $179, the device ships with multiple ways to wear it: a clip, lanyard, magnetic pin, and wristband. The idea is flexibility—office, commute, or conference floor.
Specs stay steady, portability goes up
Under the hood, Plaud didn’t chase spec inflation. The NotePin S keeps 64GB of onboard storage, up to 20 hours of continuous recording, and dual MEMS microphones capable of picking up clear audio from roughly 10 feet away.
Compared to Plaud’s larger Note Pro, the range and battery life are slightly reduced. In return, the device is smaller and easier to carry all day. Plaud says this pin is built for people who are constantly moving—not sitting through marathon boardroom sessions.
One meaningful upgrade: Apple Find My support. For a wearable that’s meant to be clipped or pinned, the ability to locate it quickly could save users from buying a second one.
The real shift is on the desktop
The more strategic launch may not be the pin at all.
Plaud is rolling out a desktop app that listens for active meetings and prompts users to capture them—without requiring bots to join calls or calendars to be synced. On macOS, the app records system audio, transcribes conversations, and turns them into structured notes using AI.
This puts Plaud in direct competition with digital-first tools like Granola, Fathom, and Fireflies. But Plaud’s angle is different: it combines physical hardware for real-world conversations with software for virtual ones.
The desktop app also supports multimodal notes, letting users mix audio transcripts with typed text and images—a feature Plaud previously limited to mobile.
Why this move matters
Plaud says it has now sold more than 1.5 million devices, making the NotePin S its fourth hardware product. That traction gives the company room to think bigger than niche recording tools.
As AI meeting assistants become more common, differentiation is shifting away from flashy summaries and toward reliability, privacy, and ease of use. Plaud’s approach suggests it sees AI not as a destination, but as background infrastructure—something that works quietly while you focus on the conversation.
Conclusion
Plaud isn’t trying to reinvent meetings. It’s trying to make them forgettable—in the best possible way.
If AI is going to sit in every meeting anyway, Plaud’s bet is that it should be invisible, wearable, and just smart enough to stay out of the way.