Apple knew that one day smartglasses could be the future and acquired Metaio, a leading company in this field that had been working on smartglasses since 2002.  Since that time, Apple has been filing dozens of patents relating to smartglasses. A few of the patents covered smartglasses with a privacy mode; one having a modular design; a wild one covering biomedical sensors and much more.

Now that Meta appears to have their crosshairs on replacing the iPhone with future smartglasses, Apple’s CEO has made it clear that Apple is focused on beating Meta to AR glasses. But until then, AI glasses may be Apple’s starting point.  

Apple has gone from Patents towards starting the process of putting the parts together. According to a new Bloomberg report, “Apple’s silicon design group is working on new chips that will serve as the brains for future devices, including its first smartglasses, more powerful Macs and artificial intelligence servers.

The company has made progress on the chip that it’s developing for smartglasses, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The move indicates that Apple is ramping up work on such a device, which would compete with the popular Ray-Ban spectacles offered by Meta Platforms. 

The glasses’ processor is based on chips used in the Apple Watch that require less energy than the components in products like the iPhone, iPad and Mac.

The chip has been customized to remove some parts in order to further improve power efficiency. The processor is also being designed to control the multiple cameras that are planned for the glasses.

The company aims to begin mass production of the processor by the end of next year or in 2027, indicating that the glasses — if successful — are likely to come to market in roughly the next two years.

Apple is working on both AI and AR smartglasses under the code name N401, a recent shift from the prior internal nomenclature of N50.  For more, read the full Bloomberg report.

Apple’s Eddie Cue recently stated that “people might not need an iPhone by 2035, highlighting AI's ability to change the technology landscape.” This echoes Zuckerberg's 2024 statement about smartglasses being the “holy grail” device that will one day replace smartphones as the main mode of communications.