It appears that Apple is putting all of its effort into releasing the best wearables this year. The Cupertino Giant is apparently preparing to release its own smart rings, AI-powered smart glasses, and AirPods with cameras after releasing Vision Pro. In his most recent Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman discloses that Apple intends to increase the range of wearables it offers, which will include AI smart glasses. While the glasses will incorporate some features from the Vision Pro, they will resemble the smart glasses that Meta and Amazon recently introduced.
Gurman claims that Apple is thinking about creating smart glasses as a possible aftermarket item. These eyewear would be marketed as a less expensive substitute for their expensive mixed reality headset, the Vision Pro. The glasses might have some AI capabilities similar to Vision Pro, but they probably wouldn’t have all of the latter’s sophisticated features, like a crystal-clear display.
They might still, nevertheless, provide features like:
- Incorporating audio and working with Apple’s ecosystem.
- Identifying items in the immediate environment by using cameras and artificial intelligence.
- Serving as a stage towards Apple’s ultimate objective of producing complete augmented reality goggles.
According to the report, Apple might sell its smart glasses instead of AirPods since they have stronger batteries, more sensors, and more sophisticated AI features. These glasses may have built-in speakers, an AI suite, health sensors, and cameras that can recognise their surroundings. For those who find it difficult to wear AirPods for extended periods of time, the glasses may be a viable substitute.
Gurman claims that Apple has talked about making glasses that “would serve as a replacement for AirPods—but with beefier batteries, more sensors, and broader AI capabilities.” With this, users would not need to wear AirPods to stay connected to the Apple ecosystem all day—though they would still have the option to do so for better audio quality.
It is reported that Apple is currently in the exploratory phase of developing smart glasses, so there is no guarantee that the product will be released by the company. However, given that Apple’s rivals are already present in the market and are adding new AI features to wearables, we assume the chances are high. Whether it’s Samsung’s smart ring, Amazon’s Echo Frames, or Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses.
Apple is not discontinuing its current AirPods line, even though the company is investigating smart glasses as an AirPods substitute. According to Mark Gurman, Apple is looking into “supercharging” the AirPods with the integration of cutting-edge AI and health sensors. Many of the advantages of smart glasses would be available with this method without the need for lenses or frames.
In essence, people who would rather not wear earbuds might choose smart glasses, and those who would rather not wear frames could look into the AirPods.
Mark Gurman goes on to say that Apple has been looking into the idea of “supercharged AirPods,” also known as codename B798, since the previous year. The task of integrating low-resolution camera sensors into earbuds that aren’t any bigger than the current AirPods has been taken on by their engineers. In theory, these cameras could record information that artificial intelligence (AI) would then use to help people with their everyday tasks.
The idea for AI-powered AirPods and Apple’s smart glasses are allegedly still in the planning stages, though the company hasn’t formally confirmed anything. But it will be interesting to watch how Apple develops its product lines going forward, especially as they expand beyond standard offerings like iPads, Macbooks, iPhones, and watches to include next-generation accessories.