Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg News that Apple is developing a chip intended for smart glasses that could come to market in the next two years. However, these smart glasses may not be the highly advanced augmented reality glasses that Apple envisions making someday.
Instead, Apple has set its sights on competing with Meta and its camera-equipped Ray-Ban smart glasses. According to Gurman, the non-AR smart glasses will use a class of chip comparable to what’s inside the Apple Watch today. Based on Apple’s plans to mass produce the chip at the end of next year or in 2027, Gurman believes we could see the hardware arrive in the next two years.
The company aims to begin mass production of the processor by the end of next year or in 2027, indicating that the glasses — if successful — are likely to come to market in roughly the next two years. As with Apple’s other major chips, partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will handle production. […]
The glasses processor is based on chips used in the Apple Watch that require less energy than the components in products like the iPhone, iPad and Mac. The chip has been customized to remove some parts in order to further improve power efficiency. The processor is also being designed to control the multiple cameras that are planned for the glasses.
Camera-equipped smart glasses would join the list of other Apple wearables set to receive cameras in future hardware revisions, Gurman adds.
The company also is spreading its bets. Apple has been working on adding cameras to its AirPods and smartwatches, aiming to turn those products into AI products well, Bloomberg News has reported. The company is developing a chip called Nevis for the camera-equipped Apple Watch and a component named Glennie for the similarly outfitted AirPods. Apple is aiming to have those chips ready by around 2027.
For now, Apple’s wearable division is limited to the Apple Watch, AirPods, and more recently, Apple Vision Pro. However, the $3500 mixed reality spatial computer is vastly different from the more mass consumer product that augmented reality glasses may someday be.
Separately, Gurman details other Apple silicon development including “M6 (Komodo) and M7 (Borneo)” chips that will follow the M5 (due in new iPad Pro and MacBook Pro updates as soon as late 2025).
An AI server chip “dubbed Baltra, is planned to be completed by 2027,” according to Gurman. And after shipping the C1 modem in the iPhone 16e, Apple plans to ship upgraded versions of its first in-house cellular modems with “a pro-level C2 modem for next year’s high-end iPhones and an even higher-end C3 version for the year after.”
Does an Apple version of Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses sound appealing? At the very least, Apple’s push into mixed reality headsets and non-AR smart glasses validates Meta’s hardware efforts to some degree as both companies chase the dream of true AR glasses.
Read the latest Bloomberg report in full here.
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