Report: Apple’s Answer to Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses May Come in 2027

Apple is reportedly making good progress on a new chip designed for lightweight smart glasses that would rival the popular Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses. A new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman details Apple’s efforts to create smart glasses that can be comfortably used all day and don’t look ridiculous, unlike the company’s Vision Pro headset.

According to the report, Apple’s new smart glasses processor will leverage the company’s work on S-Series chips for the Apple Watch, which are more power-efficient than the A-Series chips for iPhones. Gurman believes that the new chip, which may enter mass production by the end of next year or in 2027, has been customized and simplified to improve power efficiency. The new component is “also being designed to control the multiple cameras that are planned for the glasses,” the report reads.

Gurman also revealed that Apple is working on two types of smart glasses, a non-augmented reality version that would work similarly to the Ray-Ban Meta models and an AR version that would display apps, notifications, and media over translucent displays, similar to how the Apple Vision Pro currently works. However, the company may want to prioritize a non-AR version to increase its chances of catching up with Meta.

“Apple is currently exploring non-AR glasses that use cameras to scan the surrounding environment and rely on AI to assist users,” Gurman wrote. “That would make the device similar to the Meta product, though Apple is still figuring out the exact approach it wants to take. The iPhone maker also needs its own artificial intelligence technology to vastly improve before the company can roll out a compelling AI-centric device.”

While Apple’s smart glasses may not be ready to ship until 2027, the company is reportedly planning to add cameras to future AirPods and Apple Watch models to make them capable of analyzing their environment. Gurman believes that the chips powering these new environment-aware products may also make their debut in 2027.

Gurman’s report also mentions new AI server chips from Apple designed for servers powering Apple Intelligence, as well as the upcoming M5 chip that’s expected to debut in new iPad Pro and MacBook Pro models coming in the fall of 2025. The reporter also believes that next year’s high-end iPhones will ship with a new in-house C2 modem from Apple, which will succeed the C1 that was recently introduced on the entry-level iPhone 16E.