According to recent reports, Apple is going hard on the next generation of AI wearable technology. So far, even the best Apple Watches have been largely limited to health and fitness and a few communication features as an extension of your phone, while its AirPods Pro 3 have been enhanced with heart-rate detection and live translation.
Now Apple is taking its wearable AI smarts one step further, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, with a trio of wearables sporting AI cameras to provide ‘contextual information’ for its revamped Siri AI chatbot. The devices will function like the Meta Ray-Bans AI glasses, which let ask Meta a question based on the world around you and interpret your request as best they can.
Gurman reports that Apple is making its own AI glasses to take the fight to Meta, developing its frames in-house (rather than collaborating with an established glasses maker like Ray-Ban) with “an advanced camera system with a high-resolution camera that’s able to capture photos and videos, as well as a second camera that provides visual information to Siri and environmental context” according to MacRumors.
The other two devices are expected to be an AI wearable pin – along the lines of the disastrous Humane AI Pin and other devices that have flopped in previous years – and AirPods fitted with cameras.
Both devices are expected to have lower-resolution cameras designed for information rather than taking high-quality photos, with included microphones for speaking with Siri. Gurman adds that a speaker for the AI Pin is being considered, but isn’t confirmed. The devices would reportedly act like ‘the eyes and ears’ of an iPhone, linked to Siri on your phone rather than using on-device AI.
Will Apple fare any better than Humane?
Apple has struggled to make ground with splashy launches in areas of innovation in recent years, notably with the Apple Vision Pro. It’s not that the device wasn’t good; rather, the world wasn’t ready for it (and it’s expensive). However, if these rumors are true and we see the first hints of these devices in 2027, I have the feeling that Apple’s smart glasses or AI wearables will do significantly better.
Apple has historically done well in fields others have broken ground in. It’s not often been a true trailblazer – it lets others take the initial risks, then aims to produce an improved model. Look at how long Apple has taken to launch a foldable phone, for example: something we know it’s currently working on. With its smart glasses Apple will look to fix the mistakes it sees Meta making, ironing out the pain points of the form factor and launching when potential customers have become used to the new concept of smart glasses.
Likewise with an AI pin or pendant. The Humane AI Pin was its own device, and it flopped, with a strange LED-display system on a device designed to completely replace the user’s phone. Apple doesn’t need to replace the iPhone; by all accounts it wants to add to it, keeping it as a hub in your pocket while reducing the need to take it out all the time. AirPods with AI cameras would be a similar concept.
It’s all about making technology easier to use, and reducing friction between the user and their gadgets. That’s one thing Apple has always excelled at, and I see no reason why these rumored devices wouldn’t be successful.
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matt.evans@futurenet.com (Matt Evans)
