Apple to Launch First Smart Glasses Next Year... "Distinctly Different from Meta in Design"

Apple is set to challenge the market dominated by Meta by launching its first smart glasses next year.

On the 20th, the first artificial intelligence (AI) smartphone by Apple, the iPhone 16, was released in Korea, and buyers were lining up at the Apple Store in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

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According to Bloomberg News on the 12th (local time), Apple is testing four different designs for its smart glasses, internally known by the code name 'N50,' with plans to officially release the product either later this year or in early next year.

Unlike the mixed reality headset Vision Pro released in 2024, the new smart glasses are designed to analyze the user's surrounding environment and provide context-aware data to Siri and Apple Intelligence. Features such as navigation maps and visual notifications are expected to be enhanced.

In contrast to Meta, which relies on its partner EssilorLuxottica for frame manufacturing, and Google, which depends on Warby Parker, Apple plans to secure competitiveness by independently implementing its iconic design with premium materials.

This approach is based on the belief that the key to smart glasses is eliminating the sense of unfamiliarity with electronic devices containing artificial intelligence (AI) and allowing users to experience visual and physical comfort in everyday life. Apple's smart glasses will be made from acetate, a premium material that is more durable than regular plastic. Unlike the circular camera design found in Meta's smart glasses, Apple may adopt vertically oriented oval lenses.

The smart glasses market is currently seeing competition among big tech companies such as Meta and Google. Market research firm Omdia forecasts that global shipments of AI smart glasses will increase from 10 million units in 2026 to 35 million units by 2030.

The report "AI Smart Glasses: The Intelligence of Gaze," published last month by the Software Policy Research Institute, analyzed the competition in the AI smart glasses market and noted that the user's gaze is emerging as a new interface paradigm. It explains that AI interprets the objects and data within the real-world space the user is looking at in real time and, based on this, provides intelligent functions such as information search, summarization, translation, and guidance.

However, to achieve this, improvements in battery life, device weight reduction, and privacy issues must be addressed first. The report stated, "Due to the nature of being a wearable device on the head, it is difficult to equip a large-capacity battery like a smartphone, but power consumption is high when running high-performance AI computations and the display, which may cause heating issues," and added, "There are also risks such as unauthorized recording and exposure of identities due to the combination of cameras and AI-based facial recognition."

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