Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple intends to release smart glasses by the end of 2026. This product will be equipped with cameras, microphones, and speakers so that the user can interact with the Siri voice assistant. The glasses will also support activities such as listening to music, making phone calls, or listening to step-by-step instructions to a specific location.
Apple has been working on true augmented reality glasses for a long time, but it has faced several obstacles on the way to achieving parity with other competitors in the field of artificial intelligence. In a few weeks at WWDC 2025, we expect a lot of AI announcements, but some of them may be met with skepticism after the slow and sometimes rocky rollout of its Apple Intelligence suite.
Meanwhile, other companies have already made a splash with AI smart glasses. Meta has achieved great success with its partnership with Ray-Ban. Google recently unveiled new plans for its Android XR mixed reality glasses, showing them off during its I/O show earlier this week. And OpenAI is entering the hardware game with the acquisition of Jony Ive’s design startup io, although it has yet to offer details on its planned projects. Apple’s project looks more like a variant of Meta than the display model that Google has been showing off, but we’ll probably hear more details soon.
While Apple is trying to release smart glasses next year, it has abandoned some other wearable projects. According to Gurman’s sources, the company has left the idea of camera-equipped Apple Watch and Apple Watch Ultra by the wayside. However, AirPods with cameras seem to still be in development.
