Apple Glasses

Apple has plenty of software and service launches coming in December, but new hardware products likely won’t arrive until next year. Among the company’s rumored 2026 products, there’s one that’s sure to earn a lot of attention: Apple Glasses.

Apple Glasses are a high priority for Apple, so much so that the company has reportedly paused development of a lighter Vision Pro to focus on the Glasses product. A new rumor has helped make a lot of sense of that move, and has me more excited than ever for Apple Glasses.

Yesterday Bloomberg reported that Apple’s ‘Vision Air’ product is being paused so resources can be shifted to the high priority Apple Glasses product. Also noteworthy from that report was a key detail on Apple’s planned launch strategy for the new glasses product.

We’ve for some time been expecting a cheaper and lighter version of Vision Pro, possibly branded as Vision Air. Potential launch dates have been variously reported as 2025, 2026, and 2027.

But a report yesterday suggested we may have even longer to wait for this as Apple shifts resources to accelerate work on an Apple Glasses product …

Apple Glasses are reportedly in development with a targeted 2026 launch, and rumors around the new AI product indicate that Apple may find itself in surprising agreement with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

It’s widely acknowledged that while Apple is happy for any Vision Pro sales it can get, the primary purpose of the existing headset is to let the company take a first step in the journey towards an Apple Glasses product.

But while a cheaper Apple Vision still seems to be a couple of years away, along with the company’s equivalent of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, we are now seeing the potential emergence of smart goggles as an interim device – with TikTok entering the fray …

Apple is surveying Vision Pro owners, and some of the questions go beyond the device’s comfort or resolution. In addition to features like Guest Mode, and which accessories people actually use, Apple wants to know what its users see in rival products (even in categories where it doesn’t compete yet).

In a blog post today, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo detailed his updated roadmap forecast for Apple’s headset and smart glasses markets. According to him, the company has at least seven head-worn devices in development across two product families, one coming in 2025.

It looks like Meta’s smart glasses lineup is about to expand beyond Ray-Ban. A new verified Instagram page called “Oakley | Meta” popped up this week, teasing a joint product launch scheduled for Friday, June 20. Here’s what to expect.

Tim Cook was recently reported to be determined to bring out an Apple Glasses product ahead of Meta’s version, with one insider going so far as to say the CEO “cares about nothing else.”

A new report suggests that Meta is changing its own headset plans in what may be a move geared to accelerate its moves towards an AR glasses product …

Apple Glasses, per the latest reporting, are full steam ahead with a targeted launch in 2026. Until now, I haven’t been that excited about the new product, since its rumored features overlap heavily with AirPods and Apple Watch. But there’s one big advantage that’s changing my mind, and it’s something Apple’s other wearables can’t match.

Apple is expediting its plans to compete with Meta’s popular Ray-Ban smart glasses. Bloomberg reports today that Apple is now aiming to release smart glasses “at the end of next year.” Simultaneously, the company has dropped its plans to release an Apple Watch with a built-in camera.

For the past few months, there have been plenty of rumors and reports about Apple’s plans to release AI-enabled wearables. Currently, it looks like Apple’s direct competitors to the Meta Ray-Bans will be launched around 2027, alongside AirPods with cameras, which will offer their own set of AI-enabled features.

While it might be too early to know what exactly they will look like, Apple has just offered a peek at how their AI might work.

Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg News that Apple is developing a chip intended for smart glasses that could come to market in the next two years. However, these smart glasses may not be the highly advanced augmented reality glasses that Apple envisions making someday.

Instead, Apple has set its sights on competing with Meta and its camera-equipped Ray-Ban smart glasses. According to Gurman, the non-AR smart glasses will use a class of chip comparable to what’s inside the Apple Watch today. Based on Apple’s plans to mass produce the chip at the end of next year or in 2027, Gurman believes we could see the hardware arrive in the next two years.

A Bloomberg report over the weekend suggested that we may see Apple smart glasses as an interim step along the way toward a full AR-based Apple Glasses product.

Essentially, it would be a copy of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses – and as someone who uses those, my view is that an Apple version only makes sense if two key conditions are met …

Apple’s Vision Pro launched last year as a cutting-edge technological feat, yet it’s been plagued by issues like its high price and being too heavy for some. But the Vision Pro has one very big advantage in its favor that could make all the difference in the world: Tim Cook’s AR glasses goal.

An Apple patent has described extending the Apple Watch Fall Detection system to other wearable devices. This includes Vision Pro, a future Apple Glasses product – and even a smart contact lens.

The patent says that such wearables could be even more effective that the Apple Watch implementation, for two reasons …

Last week, Mark Gurman reported that Apple had canceled development of its AR glasses project following some unimpressive demos for executives. With Vision Pro struggling to build its own sales momentum, on the surface AR glasses seemed like the the best path forward for Vision products. But here’s why that may not be the case—at least not yet.

Bad news for fans of bad products. Apple won’t be shipping a pair of augmented reality glasses that require a tethered connection to the Mac after all. Mark Gurman at Bloomberg has the exclusive development, including a thorough description of how the product would have worked. Based on Mark’s reporting, this project was buried in compromises that ultimately made it undesirable.

Apple’s long-term goal for Vision Pro is believed to be an Apple Glasses product, in which an ordinary-looking pair of glasses will be able to display both text and AR content.

We’ve seen some competitors take early steps in that direction, and the RayNeo X3 Pro AR glasses look like the closest thing we’ve yet seen in a real-world product …

Ray-Ban Meta have been the most successful smart glasses to date, offering an appealing mix of features in a form factor which is visually indistinguishable from normal sunglasses.

So far, all of the AI functionality, notifications, and messaging features have relied on the glasses reading things to you through integrated speakers, but a new report says a future model will get a display, and that it could launch as early as next year …