Google Glass has been reborn, Meta’s new glasses are ready to go, and the domestic brand Thunderbird has accelerated to catch up – in the past period of time, the smart glasses market has been much more lively. Apple, the leader, has finally been unable to hold back, and there are new developments. According to Bloomberg news, Apple plans to release smart glasses as part of its AI device strategy. In terms of the planned release time, Apple is still the late Apple. This pair of smart glasses may not be available until the end of next year. Regarding this product, there have been many reports that it will be a product definition similar to Ray-Ban Meta: it does not include a display screen, and its main functions are shooting, listening to songs, and voice-based AI interaction. (As for another prototype of AR glasses that was previously reported to be paired with a Mac, there is a high probability that it has been cut.) Apple is actually very suitable for making glasses. Vision Pro is indeed very strong, but there are also many flaws: it is too big, too heavy, and too expensive, which limits it to become a common device for more people. In the minds of Apple and CEO Tim Cook, the ultimate goal is a lightweight AR glasses that can see the real world while browsing the content in the virtual window with the built-in display. The key is to be lightweight enough so that users can wear it for a long time without fatigue. The Orion prototype announced by Meta last year, and the Project Aura announced by Google last week, are trying to achieve a similar vision. The Meta Orion demonstration is not easy to achieve such a goal, and Apple is expected to take three to five years to prepare internally. But the market for smart glasses has become increasingly hot. Ray-Ban Meta has achieved millions of sales in two years with its stylish styling, listening to music, taking photos, and a price comparable to ordinary Ray-Ban glasses, becoming an absolute representative of this category. Source: Bloomberg Of course, smart glasses without displays are more of a transitional product form. Before the final AR glasses are launched, use transitional products to seize the market, build users’ minds, cultivate usage habits, and obtain user feedback to continuously iterate technologies and products. Meta is not idle either. According to reports, Meta will launch a new smart glasses with a monocular display as early as this year, which can be said to be a transitional model between Ray-Ban Meta and Orion. If Apple wants to make a pair of smart glasses, surpassing Ray-Ban Meta in terms of hardware quality should be the minimum. After all, Apple’s years of AirPods and iPhone to bring audio and shooting capabilities, as well as experience in small wearable devices Apple Watch, are far better than Meta/Oculus, a manufacturer with only large hardware experience in the past. According to sources, Apple has been developing a dedicated processor for smart glasses, possibly based on the chips used in the Apple Watch. Providing low-power performance is Apple’s forte. Even Meta himself has Apple as a learning object: the goal of the next smart glasses is to be equipped with a “iPhone 13 quality” camera. At present, Ray-Ban Meta’s glasses are “iPhone 11 quality”. As a pair of glasses, the appearance design is naturally a part that cannot be ignored. Meta and Ray-Ban are deeply bound, and Google has also officially announced its cooperation with Gentle Monster, both of which prioritize the fashion attributes of smart glasses. Apple, which rarely misses product design, naturally does not need to worry about the appearance. However, the real challenge may still be AI. First, easy-to-use glasses, and then AI + AR devices. In 2025, no one will buy a pair of smart glasses specifically for AI. Fashion, topics, taking pictures and listening to songs must be prioritized, and AI is just an extra flower. But in the future, Apple, Meta, and Google all believe that the destination of glasses will be AI. After all, a smart glasses that can see what you see and hear what you hear is really suitable as an AI end point. The translation function of Google smart glasses, and Apple’s slow progress in AI, it is difficult to say what advantage it can bring to smart glasses. The reason for this slowness is actually a technical path choice many years ago: In fact, a few years after the release of iPhone, Apple has begun to explore and lay out the next computing platform, and then choose the latter with fewer ethical issues among the two paths of AI and XR. As a result, the Vision Pro had a lot of thunder and little rain; while the ChatGPT fire, the world chose the path of generative AI, which also put Apple in a very embarrassing situation. Therefore, Apple quickly adjusted the positioning of the Vision team: AI and XR were in hand, and even the new glasses products with pure AI hardware were handed over to the Vision team. Moreover, many executives of the Vision project team were transferred to clean up the mess of AI Siri. Although Apple’s executives valued their leadership in project management, it also promoted the close integration of Vision products with AI in the future. At present, Apple’s positioning of glasses products is very uncertain. Although it is equipped with a camera, Apple is still torn about whether it should open up the permission of free photography and video recording to users due to privacy concerns. This means that the camera on this pair of eyes may still be used for “visual intelligence”. iPhone the “visual intelligence” function, but in this way, Apple is undoubtedly scrapping its martial arts and going to a field where it is not good at. After all, even iPhone “visual intelligence” that has been launched, to be honest, like other Apple intelligent functions, it is difficult to be called the beginning of any change. Another key AI function “enhanced Siri”, the finished product does not even have a shadow, seriously behind the progress has also affected Apple’s AI hardware release progress, which may also include AI glasses. Meta glasses AR function: generate recipes based on the food in front of you, no matter what, Apple’s internal tension and anxiety about the possibility of AI devices replacing iPhone has been clearly on the table. Eddy Cue, a veteran of the service department, publicly stated in the Google antitrust trial that iPhone will be replaced by AI devices, just as the iPod was replaced by iPhone. There are also reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook is now only concerned with Vision-like devices as a top priority. That said: of course, whether it is smart glasses or other AI devices, there is still a long way to go to replace iPhone. Even Jony Ive, one of the founders of iPhone, does not think that the AI hardware he developed with OpenAI can replace iPhone. The market’s faltering exploration of AI hardware has given Apple a chance to catch up. Maybe Apple doesn’t need to launch a revolutionary device – because all the ambitions of the pioneers have basically failed. Apple may also think so. At present, Apple’s internal positioning of smart glasses is only a “iPhone accessory” similar to AirPods. So my expectation for “Apple Glasses” is not a disruptive AI hardware, but the same as Ray-Ban Meta, a pair of good-looking and easy-to-use glasses, which can take pictures and play songs. Then continue to push related AI functions later, so that even if the AI function is not very useful in the early stage, users can have a good pair of glasses, rather than a pair of basically unusable work in progress, which makes people uninterested in wearing glasses. By the way, a suitable price is also needed. Ray-Ban Meta, first trendy accessories, then smart glasses, and eventually, this glasses gradually iterated into the shape Cook had in mind: AR physical plug-in with binocular display, smart Siri smart assistant, lightweight and fashionable appearance that can be worn all day. However, the first generation of Apple glasses released in 2026 is likely to face the situation of being a generation behind when it comes out. After all, Meta and Google’s latest glasses product prototypes have already brought a single-eye AR display, and the exploration of XR + AI is one step ahead. We once thought that Apple was good at “late strike”, but the Apple smart that is slow is not easy to use has not proved this. There may not be much time left for Apple Glasses.
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