According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, next year will see Apple finally release a product that many have been looking forward to for years. As part of a new focus on AI-enhanced devices, Apple is expected to release its first pair of smart glasses at the end of 2026. Today's report says that Apple engineers are hard at work in order to get the connected specs ready in time.
The glasses will be equipped with cameras, microphones, and speakers that will be able to give the device some context about where the user is and what he is doing. This data will also help Siri answer certain questions by responding with useful answers. In addition, the Apple smart glasses will make and take phone calls, deliver live translation in real-time, play music, and give turn-by-turn directions.
The glasses from Apple would be similar to the current AI Ray-Ban smart glasses offered by Meta and the company's upcoming glasses that will have Android XR installed. The latter is the special version of Android developed for smart glasses and other extended reality headsets.
Originally known inside Apple as N50, the glasses now use the N401 name. But before you get too excited, Apple's first pair of smart glasses will not include Augmented Reality (AR) features. AR overlays computer-generated graphics over a real world feed and has been favored by Apple CEO Tim Cook. For a pair of smart glasses released by Apple to be considered an iPhone successor as many expect, Apple will need to figure out how to include AR capabilities and even Gurman says in his report that AR-powered glasses remain years away.
Despite this comment, Gurman does say that Meta's first smart glasses with AR is expected to hit the marketplace by 2027. This new model will feature lenses allowing users to be able to see notifications, pictures, and other visuals through their glasses instead of having to view them using their phones via the Meta AI app, which is now the case.
By the end of this year, Apple hopes to have obtained prototypes from overseas suppliers according to Bloomberg's sources who remain anonymous because the device has not been officially announced. Earlier this month, we told you that Apple is working on building a custom chip for its first pair of smart glasses. This will be a low-power processor based on the chip that powers the Apple Watch. By removing all of the parts of the chip not required to run the glasses, the chip will be energy-efficient.
We are now coming closer to the release of Apple's next big thing, AR smart glasses. When this process is over, Apple could find itself ready to promote the device that could be the leading consumer tech product for the ensuing 20 years or more.