Apple Inc. is accelerating improvement of three new wearable gadgets as a part of a shift towards synthetic intelligence-powered hardware, a class additionally being pursued by OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc.
The corporate is ramping up work on sensible glasses, a pendant that may be pinned to a shirt or worn as a necklace, and AirPods with expanded AI capabilities, in keeping with folks with data of the plans. All three gadgets are being constructed across the Siri digital assistant, which is able to depend on visible context to hold out actions.
Every of the merchandise, which might be linked to Apple’s iPhone, relies on a digicam system with various capabilities, stated the folks, who requested to not be recognized as a result of the plans haven’t been introduced. A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to remark.
The AirPods and pendant are envisioned as less complicated choices, outfitted with lower-resolution cameras designed to assist the AI work somewhat than for taking photographs or movies. The glasses, in the meantime, might be extra upscale and feature-rich.
In an all-hands assembly with workers earlier this month, Chief Government Officer Tim Cook dinner hinted that the corporate could be pushing onerous into AI gadgets, saying Apple is engaged on new “classes of merchandise” which are enabled by synthetic intelligence. “We’re extraordinarily enthusiastic about that.”
Cook dinner added that the corporate was investing in new expertise. “The world is altering quick,” he stated.
Whereas iPhone gross sales stay strong, Apple is enjoying catch-up in AI. Revamping Siri has been a key problem: Upgrades to the voice assistant have been affected by improvement snags, delaying their rollout.
The corporate is getting ready a model of the assistant for iOS 27, due later this 12 months, that may function a chatbot-like interface. Apple will depend on underlying fashions co-developed with Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Within the longer run, AI is predicted to alter the way in which shoppers use telephones — with extra actions shifting to peripherals. Meta’s glasses have already turn into successful, and OpenAI is creating a sequence of gadgets, together with wearables, with the assistance of ex-Apple design chief Jony Ive and different former Apple executives.
Apple has been looking for a profitable formulation on this space. Its final main push into a brand new class, the dear Imaginative and prescient Professional headset, didn’t resonate with shoppers. The corporate is on the lookout for a breakthrough with its accelerated push into wearable gadgets, aiming to maintain customers locked into the Apple ecosystem.
Sensible Glasses
The sensible glasses are deliberate to be positioned as a complicated providing within the firm’s AI hardware lineup, meant to compete with Meta’s camera-equipped eyewear. They would come with a high-resolution digicam able to capturing photographs and video.
Apple has made important progress in latest months on its glasses, code-named N50, and has lately distributed a broader set of prototypes inside its hardware engineering division. The corporate is concentrating on the beginning of manufacturing as early as December, forward of a public launch in 2027.
Like most of Meta’s present choices, the glasses gained’t embody a show. As a substitute, the interface will depend on audio system, microphones and cameras — letting customers make cellphone calls, entry Siri, take actions primarily based on environment, play music and take photographs. Apple goals to distinguish the product in two key areas: construct high quality and digicam expertise.
Staff say the corporate initially developed the hardware by embedding electronics and cameras into off-the-shelf frames from a wide range of well-liked manufacturers. Apple at one level even mentioned counting on partnerships to launch the product, following a broader business pattern. Meta works with EssilorLuxottica SA, whereas Google has teamed up with Warby Parker Inc.
Extra lately, nonetheless, Apple determined to develop its personal frames in-house in a wide range of sizes and colours.
Early prototypes of the glasses join through a cable to a standalone battery pack and an iPhone, however newer variations have the elements embedded within the body. The design makes use of high-end supplies, together with acrylic parts meant to provide the glasses a premium really feel. Apple is already discussing launching the gadget in extra kinds over time.
The glasses will embody two digicam lenses: one for high-resolution imagery and one other devoted to laptop imaginative and prescient — a expertise just like what’s used within the Imaginative and prescient Professional. The second sensor is designed to provide the gadget environmental context, serving to it extra precisely interpret environment and measure distance between objects.
The purpose is for the glasses to perform as an all-day AI companion, able to understanding what a person is seeing and doing in actual time. Wearers might have a look at an object and ask what it’s and get help with on a regular basis duties. That would imply inquiring about elements in a meal, as an example.
Apple can be exploring extra superior makes use of. The glasses might learn printed textual content and convert it into digital information — say, by including the data on an occasion poster on to a calendar. The gadget additionally might create context-aware reminders, comparable to prompting a person to seize an merchandise after they’re trying on the proper shelf in a grocery retailer.
For navigation, Siri might reference real-world landmarks — somewhat than simply giving extra generic directions. The assistant might inform customers to stroll previous a described constructing or car earlier than making a flip.
Apple already has some visible AI capabilities, together with the Visible Intelligence function for analyzing photos on iPhones, however the expertise could be extra accessible.
Pendant and AirPods
After all, some customers want to not put on one thing on their face — particularly in the event that they don’t have already got glasses. Apple is aiming to serve that market with its different wearable AI gadgets: the pendant and camera-equipped AirPods.
Apple’s industrial design group hatched the pendant concept whereas engaged on the glasses — earlier than that they had settled on a design for that product. The gadget is harking back to the failed Humane AI pin, but it surely’s designed as an iPhone accent somewhat than a standalone product.
The pendant would primarily function an always-on digicam for the smartphone that additionally features a microphone for Siri enter. Some Apple workers name it the “eyes and ears” of the cellphone.
Whereas Apple’s industrial design group is main the technique for the product, Apple can be leaning on the Imaginative and prescient Merchandise Group that developed the Imaginative and prescient Professional for the engineering. That group is engaged on the sensible glasses as properly.
Not like the Humane AI Pin, the Apple gadget lacks a projector or a show system. It’s additionally designed to rely closely on an iPhone for processing. Although it has a devoted chip, the system is nearer in computing energy to AirPods than an Apple Watch.
One space of debate for the product has been whether or not or to not embody a speaker, which might permit customers to carry back-and-forth conversations with the gadget immediately. Which means they might depart their iPhone of their pocket or bag or not put on AirPods.
Apple is working to permit customers to put on the AirTag-sized pendant in two major methods: with a clip that may connect to clothes or through a necklace that may be positioned by means of a gap contained in the hardware.
The Info beforehand reported on elements of the pin mission, which stays early-stage and might nonetheless be canceled. If Apple strikes ahead with the gadget, it might launch as early as subsequent 12 months. The plans for the opposite merchandise additionally stay fluid.
The corporate has beforehand stopped work on different gadgets, together with up to date variations of the Apple Watch with embedded cameras. Testers discovered the idea impractical as a consequence of clothes sleeves and the issue of capturing usable digicam angles from the wrist.
The AirPods, deliberate for as early as this 12 months, have been in improvement for some time, with Bloomberg Information first reporting in early 2024 that Apple was exploring camera-equipped earbuds. The corporate has steadily added AI options to the product, together with a brand new live-translation mode launched final 12 months.
Down the street, Apple goals to create sensible glasses with an augmented actuality show, giving customers entry to richer information and visuals. However a possible launch stays a few years away.
The corporate stopped improvement final 12 months of a less expensive and lighter model of its Imaginative and prescient Professional headset dubbed N100. It was meant to be a bridge towards the AR gadgets, however Apple finally selected to deal with glasses somewhat than a extra enclosed headset design.
Past wearables, Apple is creating a spread of AI gadgets for the house. That lineup features a sensible show constructed across the firm’s upcoming Siri revamp and a later model with a bigger display and robotic arm. The corporate can be engaged on an up to date HomePod speaker and a compact indoor sensor for residence safety and automation.
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Revealed on February 18, 2026
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