Apple reportedly wants to repurpose some of the technology that went into its Vision Pro headset for simpler products. That includes a pair of smart glasses plus AirPods with IR cameras.
These could launch in 2027, with additions to the Vision headset line coming before then.
Return of Apple smart glasses rumors
Late last year, Meta and Ray-Ban teamed up to introduce the first smart glasses to get any kind of traction. These include cameras and built-in AI. Apple is reportedly working on something similar.
“Into 2027, the team is considering launching smart glasses on par with the Meta Ray-Bans,” said Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter from Sunday.
“The idea is to salvage the billions of dollars spent on the Vision Pro’s visual intelligence technology, which can scan the environment around a user and supply useful data,” reported Gurman.
Visual Intelligence takes input from a camera to gather information from the user’s surroundings. It’s part of Apple Intelligence, and can look up products, add events to a calendar from a poster, and more. The feature is coming to the iPhone 16 series, too. Expect it later this year.
Rumors of Apple working on smart glasses heavily circulated in the years before the launch of the Vision Pro AR headset last winter.
And AirPods with cameras?
Bloomberg’s report — based on information leaking from Apple — also mentions AirPods with cameras. While that initially sounds ridiculous, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said these will be infrared cameras and not meant for taking pictures.
Instead, the cameras could be used to add gesture controls. The wearer of the wireless earbuds could start or stop music playback by waving one of their hands, for example.
And AirPods with IR cameras might work in cooperation with the cheaper Vision headset also supposedly on Apple’s drawing board. The first of these will supposedly launch in 2025.
