Apple smart glasses and AirPods with cameras could launch in 2027

Apple is considering launching smart glasses to compete with Meta Ray-Bans, as well as new AirPods with cameras in 2027.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
‎

Executives within the Vision Products Group — the team behind the $3,500 Vison Pro headset — are racing to develop devices with greater appeal. The Vision Pro is too heavy, too expensive and too hot to the touch, and it seems destined to remain a niche product.
As I’ve reported, the Vision Products Group is working on at least four new devices. I expect a lower-end Vision headset to arrive as early as next year, with a second-generation Vision Pro — sporting a faster chip — following in 2026. The lower-end model would cost about $2,000 and probably use an inferior processor and cheaper materials. It also would lack EyeSight, a gee-whiz feature that shows a user’s eyes on the outside of the headset. With the lower price, Apple is expecting unit sales of the device to be at least double the level of the Vision Pro. But that’s not saying much.
Into 2027, the team is considering launching smart glasses on par with the Meta Ray-Bans, as well as AirPods with cameras. 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. We’ll get a taste of this with an upcoming visual intelligence feature on the iPhone 16, but the plan is to bring the Vision Pro’s ability to understand its surroundings to more products.
The bigger problem for Apple right now is that it’s not getting new technology out the door quickly enough. It’s chasing a Meta product with something that may not be released for several years. And it’s still playing catch-up in artificial intelligence
The world is not waiting around for Apple anymore. It’s no longer the leader in several critical new technologies, and that’s scary — especially when there are rivals innovating and inspiring a new generation of users. The company has a stable base of revenue, at nearly $400 billion a year, but Apple can’t coast forever.

‎
MacDailyNews Take: Welcome to the vigil, er… party, Mark.
While Cook is hemming and hawing when faced with shareholders (virtually, of course, never again in person for as long as Cook remains), Apple is currently in scramble mode trying to catch up to rivals — including the world’s most valuable company, Microsoft — in generative AI, a technology the company seems to have completely missed while focusing instead on the not-ready-for-primetime Apple Vision Pro, visionOS, its now-canceled decade-long multi-billion-dollar electric vehicle boondoggle, replacing leather in iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands with overpriced junk in a quest to “save the planet,” forcing employees to endure a constant barrage of time-wasting zero-productivity DEI sessions, and myriad other various and sundry “initiatives” which Cook deems of import. – MacDailyNews, February 28, 2024
When you lose your visionary CEO and replace him with a caretaker CEO, this is the type of aimless, late, bureaucratic dithering that ensues. – MacDailyNews, November 21, 2017
Until it gets another visionary leader (fingers crossed; Apple’s history has shown – cough, Sculley, Spindler, cough – that the next CEO could be far, far worse than the very competent caretaker Cook), Apple can afford to miss things like generative AI – which they clearly did – and then use its huge war chest to catch up – which they’re doing right now (fun times and 80-hour weeks inside Apple Park!) – and, hopefully, surpass rivals (or at least be as good). Apple will very likely unveil their catch-up work within months (this June at WWDC 2024) in iPhones (and iPads, Apple Watches, etc.) with built-in on-device generative AI and other new AI-driven features. – MacDailyNews, February 14, 2024
MacDailyNews Note: Today is Columbus Day in the U.S. and, as we spend the day with family and friends, posting will be limited. We will return to our regular posting schedule tomorrow.

We are currently about 1/5th of the way to being sustainable with Substack subscriptions.
Not a bad start!
Please tell your Apple-loving friends about MacDailyNews on Substack and, if you’re currently a free subscriber, please consider $5/mo. or $50/year to keep MacDailyNews going. Just hit the subscribe button. Thank you!

Read on Substack

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
The post Apple smart glasses and AirPods with cameras could launch in 2027 appeared first on MacDailyNews.