Apple’s AI Smart Glasses Could Launch Sooner Than You Think

Apple’s next breakout device might sit on your face, not in your hand.

The tech giant is reportedly deep into developing its first pair of AI-powered smart glasses, a display-free wearable that will take direct aim at Meta’s wildly popular Ray-Ban smart glasses. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the product, codenamed N50 internally, is expected to be unveiled as early as late 2026 or in the first months of 2027, with sales beginning sometime that same year.

Apple has a well-earned reputation for entering a product category late and leaving everyone else in the dust. The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player. The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone. The Apple Watch wasn’t the first smartwatch. The glasses appear to follow that same philosophy, except this time, the company isn’t even pretending to reinvent the wheel right away.

What Apple is building isn’t augmented reality. There’s no heads-up display, no digital overlay on the real world. Instead, the glasses are designed to be a companion for your iPhone, handling everyday tasks like taking photos, answering calls, and talking to Siri without you ever having to pull your phone out of your pocket.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is looking to go head-to-head with Meta’s Ray-Ban collection by offering a “higher-end build.” While many competitors use standard plastic, Apple is reportedly opting for acetate, a material known in the fashion world for being both more durable and more premium than your average pair of specs.

Four looks, one goal

Apple’s design team has reportedly created at least four different frame styles. Gurman writes that the company plans to launch “some or all of them, as well as many color options.”

Here are the designs currently being tested, according to Bloomberg:

• A large rectangular frame, similar to Ray-Ban Wayfarers
• A slimmer rectangular design, like the glasses Apple CEO Tim Cook wears
• Larger oval or circular frames
• A smaller, more refined oval or circular option

Colors under consideration include black, ocean blue, and light brown.

The glasses aren’t alone. Bloomberg reports they are part of a “three-pronged AI wearables strategy” that also includes new camera-equipped AirPods and a wearable pendant with cameras.

Each device is designed to use computer vision to understand your surroundings and feed that information into Siri and Apple Intelligence. That could enable features like better turn-by-turn directions and visual reminders.

So Apple isn’t just building a pair of glasses. It’s building an ecosystem of AI wearables that all talk to each other, and to your iPhone.

How Apple plans to beat Meta

Meta has a huge head start. Its Ray-Ban smart glasses are already a hit. But Apple believes it has advantages that Meta can’t match.

According to employees working on the project who spoke with Bloomberg, Apple’s strategy is to “outdo competitors by tightly integrating the glasses with the iPhone and offering a higher-end build.”

Unlike Meta, which relies on partner EssilorLuxottica for frames, Apple is handling design entirely in-house. That also sets it apart from Google and Samsung, which are working with Warby Parker.

“If executed properly with a functional Siri, these glasses could follow a trajectory similar to the Apple Watch: not first to market, but ultimately dominant,” Gurman notes.

Related Apple content: Want to understand the AI powering it all? Check out this complete guide to Apple Intelligence and what it means for the future.

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