Apple is speeding up development of three new AI-focused wearable devices, including smart glasses, as part of its push into artificial intelligence-powered hardware.
The company is intensifying efforts on smart glasses, a compact AI pendant that can clip onto clothing or be worn as a necklace, and AirPods enhanced with advanced AI features, Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman reports Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the initiatives. Each of these products centers on a revamped LLM Siri digital assistant, which will leverage visual context from built-in cameras to perform tasks and provide more intelligent responses.
The AirPods and pendant are envisioned as simpler offerings, equipped with lower-resolution cameras designed to help the AI work rather than for taking photos or videos. The glasses, meanwhile, will be more upscale and feature-rich.
The company is preparing a version of the assistant for iOS 27, due later this year, that will feature a chatbot-like interface. Apple will rely on underlying models co-developed with Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
The smart glasses are planned to be positioned as an advanced offering in the company’s AI hardware lineup, intended to compete with Meta’s camera-equipped eyewear. They would include a high-resolution camera capable of capturing photos and video.
Apple has made significant progress in recent months on its glasses, code-named N50, and has recently distributed a broader set of prototypes within its hardware engineering division. The company is targeting the start of production as early as December, ahead of a public release in 2027.
Like most of Meta’s current offerings, the glasses won’t include a display. Instead, the interface will rely on speakers, microphones and cameras — letting users make phone calls, access Siri, take actions based on surroundings, play music and take photos. Apple aims to differentiate the product in two key areas: build quality and camera technology… Apple decided to develop its own frames in-house in a variety of sizes and colors.
MacDailyNews Take: While we’re most interested in Apple’s future-gen smart glasses with augmented reality displays, but this first step will be important. Everything that’s coming hinges on Siri – precariously, given the long-neglected state of Siri currently. We do continue to hear good things – Very Good Things™ – about LLM Siri from our little birdies.
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I’m skeptical about the pendant/clip on pin. I have no doubt they are prototyping this. They should be doing this. However, I don’t see the use case for this. We already have a Watch and an iPhone to talk to and maybe we’ll have Apple Glasses. Do we also need a clip on device? Maybe it’s just a matter of doing it because they can. These days how hard can it be to gin up a little clip like this?
Think of it like the Star Trek communicator badge. Assuming they can get Siri up to grade level it’ll be the most frictionless way to access AI. Either tap it or “Hey Siri” without taking out your iPhone or even lifting your Apple Watch. It’s not going to be a $1000+ iPhone-type device but more like something halfway between AirTags (and similar in size/weight) and the Apple Watch probably charging on the Watch charger as well. If they pull it off it’ll be another brilliant halo device for the iPhone ecosystem while also cutting OpenAI off at the knees, the key is a useful Siri.