Apple is making progress on a custom chip for its smart glasses, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports, with production set for late 2026 or early 2027.
Gurman, who has a strong track record of reporting on Apple products in advance of an official reveal, has previously said that Apple plans a Ray-Ban Meta glasses competitor for 2027, with a similar focus on visual multimodal AI, which Apple currently calls Visual Intelligence on iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro.
In a new report today, Gurman says Apple is set to begin mass production of a new chipset for the glasses in late 2026 or in 2027. This chip will be based on the highly efficient S-series chips used in Apple Watch, he writes, with support for “multiple cameras”.
David Heaney
Apple is also working on true AR glasses too, Gurman again reports, but these are much further out.
Last month Gurman claimed that Tim Cook is “hell-bent” on releasing “industry-leading” AR glasses before Meta, citing sources claiming that he “cares about nothing else” and that they are “the only thing he’s really spending his time on from a product development standpoint”.
But Gurman also noted that it will take “many years” for Apple’s AR glasses to be ready, and in January said executives don’t expect a product launch until 2028 at the absolute earliest. Realistically, it might be some time next decade.
David Heaney
In the meantime, Apple reportedly plans a cheaper and lighter Vision Pro headset for late this year or early 2026, and a streamlined Mac-tethered headset for some time after.
Thus, long before true AR glasses see the outside of Apple’s research and development labs, the company will continue to ship cheaper and lighter Vision headsets to the world, building on the continual evolution of visionOS.
