Apple’s been rumored to be working on smart glasses for what feels like forever, and it makes sense considering that this wearable gadget would be lighter than the Apple Vision Pro with a slimmer all-around design and, hopefully, lighter on the wallet as well.

A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman details that the Cupertino-based tech giant is making progress on a chip that will power “its first smart glasses.”

The report notes that ‘progress has been made’ on the chip, which means that internal work on the smart glasses is ramping up and that production on the processor is set to start by the end of 2027.

Now, dates can move and change, but that would put these smart glasses on the road for release in about two years.

These aren’t the full-fledged AR glasses that have long been rumored, though; rather, the report says these smart glasses “would compete with the popular Ray-Ban spectacles” from Meta. The Meta Ray-Bans are a hit for the company, landing in a similar build to classic glasses. They allow one to take photos or videos without taking a phone out and offer easy access to the Meta AI assistant.

Apple’s exact feature set for these smart glasses that wouldn’t overlay the world around you isn’t set as of yet, though. According to the report, “Apple is currently exploring non-AR glasses that use cameras to scan the surrounding environment and rely on AI to assist users.”

This sounds pretty similar to what Meta Ray-Ban offers and also to Visual Intelligence on the iPhone 16 lineup – and iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max – which uses Google or ChatGPT to identify what’s in the scene. Hopefully, by 2027, though, Apple Intelligence will be more widely rolled out, with AI-powered Siri in the hands of plenty of consumers on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Seeing that this reported chip is modeled after the Apple Watch’s SoC, it’s likely that these smart glasses would pair with another device like an iPhone, probably in a process similar to setting up an Apple Watch or AirPods.

However, Apple isn’t just switching to focusing on building smart glasses without AR. The report notes that this new model and the previously rumored one are in development, and that Tim Cook really wants to beat Meta in the world of smart glasses.

Offering more than one model when the time comes for a release would be an easy way to attract more consumers, especially if it lowers the entry price.

Even so, we’re far out on Apple’s rumored smart glasses, as two years puts them at the earliest of 2027, but I’d bet we'll see plenty more rumors and reports in the lead up to that.

In the more immediate future, though, Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference will kick off on June 9, 2025, and the company should share more about its next-generation platforms and Apple Intelligence at large. Who knows, we might even get a more substantial update for the Vision Pro, which could hint at future glasses.

You might also like