Apple has shelved a major Vision Pro headset redesign to prioritize smart glasses development, aiming to compete with Meta Platforms’ offerings. The company is exploring two smart glasses models: one without a display that pairs with an iPhone and another with a display to rival Meta’s Ray-Ban Display. These glasses will emphasize voice interaction, AI, and include features like speakers, cameras, and voice controls, available in multiple styles.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The company had been preparing a cheaper, lighter variant of its headset — code-named N100 — for release in 2027. But Apple announced internally last week that it’s moving staff from that project to accelerate work on glasses, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Smart glasses have emerged as a critical arena for tech companies, which are racing to develop AI-centric devices. Future designs could eventually challenge smartphones as must-have technology, and Apple wants to be ready.
The company is working on at least two types of smart glasses. The first one, dubbed N50, will pair with an iPhone and lack its own display. Apple aims to unveil this model as soon as next year, ahead of a release in 2027, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
Apple is also working on a version with a display — something that could challenge the just-released Meta Ray-Ban Display. The Apple version had been planned for 2028, but the company is now looking to accelerate development, the people said.
Apple’s glasses will rely heavily on voice interaction and artificial intelligence — two areas where it hasn’t always excelled. It was slow to introduce the Apple Intelligence platform and had to delay upgrades to its Siri voice assistant.
But the company is working to turn things around on that front. Apple is betting that a rebuilt Siri, planned for as early as March, will help power a new range of devices, including glasses, speakers, displays and cameras.
Apple is still planning a modest refresh of the current Vision Pro design — with a faster chip — for as early as the end of this year
MacDailyNews Take: Meta isn’t that far ahead. Apple can catch and surpass them with the next-gen Siri and, most importantly, the company’s insurmountable ecosystem advantage.
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I don’t get it. What’s the point of glasses without a display? What am I missing?
I’ve been wearing Meta Ray Bans for a year. The point is having the ultimate POV camera right on your face for recording anything at a moment’s notice. Other uses include quick AI answers, listening to music/podcasts/books, having incoming notifications read to you and making and receiving phone calls (all without AirPods fatiguing your ears, though I often wear both).
The display is currently the least compelling feature at least in the Meta Display’s first consumer attempt. It’s a little display off the side of your FOV and interacting with it requires a special wristband. The Meta Display also cost about $500 more than the regular Metas and are noticeably bulkier and thicker.
I have prescription lenses so they are much more useful to me than just sunglasses. I wish Apple could iterate on the Vision Pro and develop ‘Apple Glass’ simultaneously but the latter is definitely a much bigger and higher margin market. They’ll really have to leapfrog Meta in various areas though because at just ~$300 (not counting prescription lenses) its a great product already.
I will make it clear to any asshole who wants to speak with me face-to-face that he has to take those POSes off and stow them far away.
You wouldn’t even notice them Bigmouth 😄
The ‘glassholes’ are back!
How much more leaderless lack of vision can Apple take? It seems Apple is chasing farts in the wind. How many product cancellation and shelved efforts can you recall? Airport WiFi Router, Air Power Charging Mat, the great electric car fiasco, revamped Siri, AI, now the Vision headset revamp to play catch up once again.
Wayne Gretzky said to go to where the puck will be, while Apple’s leadership takes Apple to where the puck was!
Moving some personnel does not equal “shelving the project.” There will be Vision Pro updates. It is a wonderful device that will evolve.
No one wants to wear such ridiculous and insanely expensive junk as Vision goggles.
They will go the way to the Dodo bird and Biden (though I repeat myself).
Finally some sense is being made. hey, now, odd number processors for none pro products, even number processors for pro line. and for God’s sake build a pro, desktop processors, that we can finally stop making excuses for. like, “yes, but it uses so little power”. i can get more power, i can’t get more time. i’m tired of watching paint dry. base memory for all pro products should be 256 GB ram. then 512, then 1TB. hey apple we don’t mind you making a little money but any 10,000 dollar product is ridiculous. stop it! hey and let’s get on schedule. we expect 4 christmas(s) a year. phone and pads, notebooks, desktops and monitors, software and solutions, And one more thing. that was the clockwork that kept the stock price climbing. forget timing just enough to beat the other, hell get out front, stay out front, quit looking behind to see where the other guys are, they are in front of you. there is no reason apple has not corner the desktop AI market. oh yeah, slow, slow, processors. well it’s that.