- Apple is working on smart glasses that should be presented later this year, according to leaks
- AI AirPods and an AI pendant are also planned
- Apple’s privacy-first approach could help you win with AI glasses
Every tech company and its dog is jamming AI into whatever system they can, and while Apple has been slow to get off the starting line, its rumored AI glasses, AI-focused AirPods, and AI collar could help it snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, all thanks to one important long-term focus: privacy.
While a couple of these devices have previously been teased by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (behind a paywall), who often shares reliable Apple insider information, he just revealed more details about Apple’s plans to create its first smart glasses.
According to Gurman, Apple is developing screenless smart glasses that will directly compete with the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2. These smart specs, internally codenamed N50, will apparently help you capture photos and videos, play music, catch up on notifications, and interact with Siri. The latter will finally reportedly get a big update in iOS 27.
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The rumored AirPods and pendant could also rely on technology like cameras and microphones to capture information from your surroundings to provide information and assistance, such as visual reminders.
Gurman doesn’t share release dates for any of the three, but says the smart glasses should appear later this year, with a launch planned for 2027. He also says that Apple’s smart glasses are being tested in four designs: a large rectangular frame (like the Ray-Ban Wayfarer), a slimmer rectangular design (like Tim Cook’s specs), larger oval or circular frames, plus a “smaller, more refined” version of the latter.
But despite these rumors that Apple will try to outshine its rivals with a “high-end build,” I still think they’ll have their work cut out for them, for several reasons.
It is not a simple path
For starters, this delay in the launch of Apple’s glasses could hurt the perceived usefulness of its technology compared to its rivals, especially since by the time it introduces AI specifications, Apple’s competitors are expected to have one or two generations of AR/display glasses released.
From experience, AR and display glasses (which can overlay your vision with various details, including live translation, shared gaming environments, or HUD elements like a map) are also a significant step up from screenless AI specifications in terms of their usefulness and capabilities.
The less-than-stellar launch of Apple Intelligence also worries me. Apple still hasn’t really shown that it knows what it’s doing with AI.
The other potential danger is that Apple is said to be going it alone when it comes to design, rather than linking up with a brand like Ray-Ban or Warby Parker, as Meta and Google have done. As a fashion accessory, the look of smart glasses is almost as essential as their usefulness, and several brands I’ve seen try to design their glasses in-house have struggled to create something that looks good.
That said, if there’s any brand that can buck that trend, it’s arguably the champion of technological design: Apple.
And the Californian tech giant also has a big smart glasses strength that could still win me over, even as an Android fan: privacy.
Privacy, privacy, privacy
Visual reminders are seen as the next big advantage that AI wearables can take advantage of. That is, they can collect all the information about your life and help you remember things like people’s names, where you left your keys, or what you need to replenish in your refrigerator.
The problem is, while this level of AI assistance is undeniably useful, it’s equally invasive: it essentially requires the wearable to have an always-on view of your life. Otherwise, you might miss vital context that would make your advice useless.
Meta and Google’s practices have been criticized in the past over their data privacy and what information is or is not shared with their AI; More recently, Meta has fallen into trouble over how many more videos and images than people realized are being shared with Meta and reviewed by contractors.
Apple, on the other hand, has always made great efforts to promote privacy with its technology. And in the world of AI, where some tasks require personal information to be processed on servers rather than on your device, it created Private Cloud Compute to ensure that user data remains private even when used by remote Apple servers.
I’m firmly in the Android ecosystem, and if you’ve watched our podcast you’ll know that I have a somewhat Apple-hating personality. Still, I’d currently trust Apple Glasses over any other brand as things stand, and with the privacy benefits I expect them to offer, I’d even be willing to put up with worse performance and specs if it meant knowing my personal data was safe.
We’ll have to wait and see what Apple reveals (as with all leaks, we should take the teases and speculation with a pinch of salt), but I’m unusually excited to see what Apple has up its sleeve. Meta and Google (and the rest) should be careful.
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