‘Pull the rug out’: Mark Gurman explains Apple’s plan to launch smart glasses and stop Meta’s momentum
At some point this year we should finally see Apple’s first pair of smart glasses. Yes, after years of rumors and speculation, Tim Cook is expected to show off Apple Glasses as soon as September. They’ll reportedly be powered by Apple silicon and the new-and-improved version of Siri.
But what will these glasses do and how will they stand out against the Meta Ray-Ban glasses and upcoming Android XR glasses from Samsung and others? There’s no better person to ask these pressing questions and more than Mark Gurman, the chief correspondent for Apple at Bloomberg.
Gurman has unearthed all sorts of details about Apple’s glasses, including how the company plans to differentiate its specs in what’s expected to be a very hot market. I sat down with Gurman to talk about the first-gen Apple glasses and what’s on the horizon, as well as other so-called “AI wearables” in the pipeline, including AirPods with cameras and an AI pendant.
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Apple Glasses release date: When are they coming?
Before you get too excited about visionOS glasses that shrink the Vision Pro experience into a pair of specs, Apple reportedly plans to go the display-free route at first. But Meta has already sold millions of Ray-Ban Meta glasses without a display, so it seems Apple is going to start there.
“The plan for some time has been to introduce the smart glasses in the September / October timeframe of this year, and then roll them out early in 2027,” Gurman said. “I’d be pretty surprised if they did not introduce them before the end of the year, even if it’s going to take several months for them to actually reach customers.”
The reason Gurman would be surprised is that he doesn’t believe that the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Fold is going to be enough to excite customers and investors. And then there’s the matter of stealing thunder from the competition.
“If you’re Apple, you really want (Apple Glasses) to be introduced before the holiday season, because you don’t want one more cycle for Meta to get momentum selling these glasses, especially given they’re going to be very giftable,” Gurman shared. “And you want to pull the rug out from under Google and Warby Parker and some of the other brands who are launching their glasses at the end of the year.”
How will Apple Glasses stand out?
On the surface, Apple’s glasses will be similar to Meta’s. You’ll be able to play music, capture photos and videos, listen to notifications, take phone calls and get hands-free help from a voice assistant in Siri.
While the iPhone is compatible with competing wearables, no third-party product is going to play as nicely with the iPhone as smart glasses developed by Apple
Mark Gurman
Apple’s strategy is apparently to focus on tighter integration with the iPhone and offering a higher-end build quality. In fact, Gurman reports that Apple has designed at least four different styles along with several color options, including black, ocean blue and light brown..
The glasses are apparently made using acetate, a premium material that’s more durable and luxurious than the plastic used by others. Then there’s the sheer power of the Apple brand and ecosystem factor.
“The Apple brand is so strong, so keep that as one factor. The other factor is that while the iPhone is compatible with competing wearables, no third-party product is going to play as nicely with the iPhone as smart glasses developed by Apple,” Gurman said.
“And then, of course, on top of that is branding, Apple design, Apple style, the way Apple is going to try to upsell people who buy an iPhone and try to get them to buy smart glasses to work with their iPhone at the time of purchase. They have a lot of ingredients to sell a lot of these smart glasses.”
Apple glasses use cases: What will they actually do?
Apple’s glasses will be designed to be the ultimate accessory to your iPhone. You’ll be able to capture high resolution photos and videos on the go. But things get really interesting when you add Visual Intelligence into the mix.
Gurman has reported on the idea of visual reminders. So, for example, if you’re in the store and the glasses see something on the shelf you had added to your reminders list, you’ll be prodded to add it to your cart.
Getting turn-by-turn directions should be more helpful than constantly staring down at your phone, too, thanks to the built-in cameras.
“One cool potential use case is walking down the street using the built-in speakers in the smart glasses to be told where you’re going in turn-by-turn directions and Maps. And rather than just telling you to take a left in 400 feet, it says ‘make a left by the gray hotel.’ So you’re getting more context by using those cameras.
The new Siri… or bust?
Of course, Apple’s glasses won’t be worth whatever premium the company plans on charging if the new Siri isn’t a significant leap forward. Apple has promised a smarter Siri since iOS 18 and the launch of the iPhone 16, but Siri has been famously delayed.
In fact, Apple is reportedly working with Google to infuse Apple’s assistant with Gemini intelligence to help catch up to the competition.
“It’s actually wild,” Gurman shared. The new Siri is likely not going to launch until September with iOS 27, which means it’s going to launch over two years after it was initially supposed to launch. So definitely not a good look for Apple.”
Based on Gurman’s own reporting, iOS 27 will include a dedicated Siri app and the revamped assistant will operate more like a chatbot like Gemini. Apple is also coming out with a new feature called extensions, which will allow other AI chatbots to work within the Siri interface.
Siri is also the key for getting Apple Glasses to work seamlessly. If the assistant isn’t responsive or smart enough, the “smart” in smart glasses falls way short.
“They need to get this new Siri out the door in order to make these smart glasses functional or usable in any proper way,” Gurman said.
AirPods with cameras…and a new AI pendant
Not everyone is going to want to wear smart glasses, so Apple has two other so-called AI wearables in the works: AirPods with cameras and an AI pendant.
The AirPods with cameras won’t be for taking pictures. They’ll have IR cameras built in to measure your surroundings and better understand the world around you. So you’ll be able to do many of the things Apple Glasses promise, such as getting visual reminders and better context for turn-by-turn directions.
“They have to hit all the major wearable categories. So it seems like they knew they were running behind here, and so they’re throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it.”
Mark Gurman
Gurman expects these to launch in the next year or so as a compliment or alternative to Apple Glasses. But what will these things cost?
“It will be a bit more expensive to get the cameras into the AirPods, and there may be some people who don’t want AirPods with the cameras built in, Gurman said. “It would make sense to me for these to be another tier on top, maybe something like AirPods Ultra.”
The other AI wearable apparently on the horizon is an AI pendant, which will be equipped with a camera and microphones, making it another “eyes and ears” product in Gurman’s estimation.
“The pendant is designed to be worn as a necklace,” Gurman said. “So there’ll be accessories to wear it around your neck. There’ll be accessories to pin it on your shirt or jacket”
The pendant will be for people who don’t want to wear AirPods or smart glasses, but who still want to benefit from feeding all of that contextual data to your iPhone and to the cloud for Apple intelligence and Siri. And presumably Apple will tout stronger privacy protections than the failed Humane AI Pin.
However, Gurman believes that this device won’t be nearly as successful as the AI AirPods or the smart glasses.
“They have to hit all the major wearable categories. So it seems like they knew they were running behind here, and so they’re throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it.”
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