Company engineers are ramping up work on the glasses - a rival to Meta Platforms' popular Ray-Bans - in a bid to meet the year-end 2026 target, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Apple will start producing large quantities of prototypes at the end of this year with overseas suppliers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the products haven't been announced.
The iPhone maker is looking to join the emerging trend of AI-powered devices - an area where it faces fresh competition. OpenAI said Wednesday that it was teaming up with former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive to introduce hardware products starting next year. The artificial intelligence pioneer is acquiring Ive's secretive io start-up, with the goal of releasing a family of AI devices.
Apple's glasses would have cameras, microphones and speakers, allowing them to analyse the external world and take requests via the Siri voice assistant. They could also handle tasks such as phone calls, music playback, live translations and turn-by-turn directions. The approach would be similar to that of Meta's current glasses and upcoming devices running Google's Android XR operating system.
Apple's ultimate goal is to release a pair of spectacles with augmented reality, which uses displays and other technology to superimpose digital content on views of the real world. But those remain years away. A spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.
The Apple Intelligence platform, released last year, has lagged behind competitors' technology. But the company is racing to enhance its capabilities. That includes a plan to open up Apple's large language models - a key foundation of generative AI - to outside developers. That could bring a wave of AI-enhanced third-party software to the company's App Store.