Teenage Engineering makes a lot of products that are basically just a grid of buttons and knobs. It's an obvious comparison to make, even if you disagree on the style/soul etc. Like the OP-1 is also a rectangle of buttons, and even the style of the keycap itself can draw some comparisons (it is a rounded square with a circle in it and an abstract symbol on it): https://teenage.engineering/products/op-1
I don't understand how people still think Teenage Engineering has a soul. If OpenAI added a quirky LCD animation to this, would it be a soulful product worth $1,199?
The whole "soul" and "taste" nonsense is a meaningless marketing canard that companies use to differentiate a product.