Apple Glass without AR still expected in late 2026, early 2027

Apple’s smart glasses will launch in late 2026 or early 2027 according to a report, but the initial Apple Glass release will be taking on Meta’s Ray-Bans instead of being the full augmented reality experience.

Apple Glass has long been believed to be Apple’s next major step in head-mounted computing. While the ambition is to introduce spectacles with augmented reality elements, the first version to actually ship will be much simpler, and not that far into the future.

In Sunday’s “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman discusses Apple’s attempts to create smart glasses. He believes that Apple will enter the market in the next 12 to 16 months, which would be in line or after the fall release schedule for 2026.

Gurman adds that the smart glasses that will show up first will be a display-less version to take on Meta’s Ray-Bans. That would mean smart glasses with cameras for video recording, some form of audio system for playback and recording, and a connection to an iPhone for processing.

The full smart glasses experience, which will involve seeing data through the lenses of the glasses, is expected to be a few years away from becoming a reality. A lot of this is miniaturization and reducing weight, as expectations are for Apple to get as close to a lightweight pair of spectacles as possible, not a heavy device like the Apple Vision Pro.

Gurman is pretty well known for his rumor reporting accuracy and is usually on the money when it comes to future products. However, this is a timeline that has previously surfaced in earlier rumors.

The timeline of a 2026 or 2027 release has been raised by others, such as Ming-Chi Kuo, however Gurman himself is arguably the idea’s biggest cheerleader. He has repeatedly reported on a possible 2026 release or a slip into 2027.

Ecosystem benefits

One thing that Gurman does raise in Sunday’s newsletter is that Apple has a natural advantage in this area. Its brand means that existing iPhone users will gravitate toward its smart glasses automatically.

There’s also Apple’s ability to deeply integrate its hardware into its ecosystem. While Meta and others have a more difficult time making their glasses work with the iPhone, Apple can do a much deeper integration, as it has done with its other products.

It’s also arguable that this integration capability and the ecosystem as a whole could be Apple’s strong suit for future models. Or even giving smart glasses-style options without the actual glasses.

Apple is thought to be working on a pair of AirPods with built-in cameras. The theory is that IR-sensing cameras could be used to detect the environment of the user, feeding the video to an iPhone and Apple Intelligence for computer vision purposes.

Given AirPods have audio capabilities, adding cameras to them could grant the personal audio devices with current-gen smart glasses capabilities.

You could also take the concept further by allowing the camera-equipped AirPods to work with the smart glasses. With more camera views and angles, there would be more data for Apple Intelligence to work with, as well as presumably better quality audio drivers and microphones.