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AI Hardware Apple

Apple Is Reportedly Planning To Launch AI-Powered Glasses, a Pendant, and AirPods 34

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman (paywalled), Apple is reportedly developing AI-powered smart glasses, a wearable pendant, and camera-equipped AirPods that connect to the iPhone and use "visual context" to let Siri perform real-world actions. The Verge reports: Apple is reportedly aiming to start production of its smart glasses in December, ahead of a 2027 launch. The new device will compete directly with Meta's lineup of smart glasses and is rumored to feature speakers, microphones, and a high-resolution camera for taking photos and videos, in addition to another lens designed to enable AI-powered features.

The glasses won't have a built-in display, but they will allow users to make phone calls, interact with Siri, play music, and "take actions based on surroundings," such as asking about the ingredients in a meal, according to Bloomberg. Apple's smart glasses could also help users identify what they're seeing, reference landmarks when offering directions, and remind wearers to complete a task in specific situations, Bloomberg reports.

The company is reportedly planning to develop the frames for the smart glasses in-house, instead of partnering with a third-party company like Meta does with Ray-Ban and Oakley. Prototypes of the glasses use a cable to connect to a battery pack and an iPhone, but Bloomberg reports that "newer versions have the components embedded in the frame." Apple reportedly wants to make its smart glasses stand out by offering a high-quality build and advanced camera technology. The company is still working on AI-powered smart glasses with a display, though their launch "remains many years away," Bloomberg says.

Apple's plans for AI hardware don't end there, as the company is expected to build upon its Google Gemini-powered Siri upgrade with an AirTag-sized AI pendant that people can either wear as a necklace or a pin. This device would "essentially serve as an always-on camera" for the iPhone and has a microphone for prompting Siri, Bloomberg reports. The pendant, which The Information first reported on last month, is rumored to come with a built-in chip, but will mainly rely on the iPhone's processing power. The device could arrive as early as next year, according to Bloomberg.
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Apple Is Reportedly Planning To Launch AI-Powered Glasses, a Pendant, and AirPods

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  • by guygo ( 894298 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @09:36PM (#65995586)

    AI pods telling us "You'll hurt your ears at those listening levels, so I turned it down for you."

    • by jhoegl ( 638955 )
      "Thanks Dadbot."
      "Mombot, can I turn this up higher?"
      • If Apple's AI could do that, I will be honest, I would be shocked. More like a car drives by and it says "OK! Here's some music just for you". Queues music as obnoxious sound levels.
  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @09:42PM (#65995598)
    During the ram shortage because they are going to have a drop in sales and they're going to try to make them money up somewhere.

    Years and years ago there was a shortage of the ROM chips Nintendo used for the NES. During the shortage we got a bunch of stupid accessories like the power glove and the U force and a couple dozen other even sillier ones that existed to sell something when there weren't enough games on the shelves.

    So expect electronics manufacturer is to push a bunch of silly stuff that doesn't need a lot of ram.

    Oh and also expect a fuckload more market consolidation because a lot of smaller players are going to go out of business. And that's going to mean higher prices of course. Even after the ram shortage ends.
    • I suspect this is the beginning of the end for building your own rig for most folks.

      Manufacturers prefer locked down, soldered RAM machines for obvious reasons. Microsoft would be happy with fewer, more predictable builds they could lean on people over. Businesses already mostly treat machines as "no user serviceable parts" inside.

      That leaves gamers, nerds and hardware hobbyists (but I repeat myself).

      Parts of the gamer segment can be peeled off in various ways. Nerds are forced to retreat to Ebay and ot

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      To be fair, Nintendo has been making silly accessories continually. They tend to sell well in Japan, and it doesn't cost much to localize them for other markets.

      Their main reaction to the ROM chip shortage was the Famicom Disk Drive, which didn't launch outside Japan. It wasn't a bad idea, and did allow for some useful enhancements to games (it had a second audio chip, and of course you could save your data to the disk instead of dealing with passwords, back before they were putting batteries in carts). It

    • During the shortage we got a bunch of stupid accessories like the power glove and the U force and a couple dozen other even sillier ones

      The Power Glove was awesome! Well, it didn't work really at all, but dreaming of what it could do and begging your parents for one was the real fun. Oh and punching your brother with it, totally worth it.

    • The development time for such devices is much longer than the timescale of the RAM issues. It is implausible that there is a causal relationship.

  • Followed by AI-powered butt-plugs, can-openers, napkins, keychains, and anything else they can cram 'AI' into.

  • whatever (Score:4, Insightful)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday February 17, 2026 @09:47PM (#65995608) Homepage Journal

    instead of partnering with a third-party company like Meta does with Ray-Ban and Oakley

    You mean Luxotica.

    Anyhoo this is probably the least surprising non-news I've ever seen. The pope still wears a funny hat, too.

  • As a concept, the pendant comes up short, as it wouldn't know where your head is pointed, let alone tracking gaze.

    Glasses I can see, though in both cases the "glass hole" phenomenon seems a risk, folks not liking being constantly recorded... Further, so far I've always had to not only make sure the viewfinder is just so, but also crop to let the software know exactly what I'm talking about, centering on the subject is frequently not enough.

    • by Misagon ( 1135 )

      It's not as if the "Airpods Max" weren't already an a$$hole indicator, and people speaking in their iPhones in handsfree mode wasn't already a nuisance in public places.

      Now they'll be recording people without their consent, and speaking handsfree even more to their pendants as well ...

  • Is the another kind of pendant?

    • There is. It's the kind on a cord with buttons on it, like you use to control things. There's one in our bus to control the chair lift. I've serviced and replaced them on hydraulic dump trailers. The word means something suspended or hung.

      • by BranMan ( 29917 )

        Wait a minute. That reply was concise, helpful, and informative - without a hint of snark, disdain, or personal attacks of any kind. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE REAL DRINKYPOO??

        • There was no reason to be salty, it's perfectly understandable not to know that meaning of the word, and GP wasn't salty either.

          What sets me off, besides interactions with people with a long history of personal abuse and/or who are obviously talking down when they're not in fact actually above anyone, is people who react aggressively to things they don't understand and could have looked up. But just expressing confusion isn't that, we're all confused sometimes. I didn't know that sense of the word either un

  • I think the augmented reality glasses will likely need a good amount of wireless bandwidth to connect to an iPhone. This explains why the iPhone 17 with the N1 I/O chip supports the new Bluetooth 6.0 standard, which may allow for this higher bandwidth connection.

  • by magusxxx ( 751600 ) <magusxxx_2000@[ ]oo.com ['yah' in gap]> on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @01:48AM (#65995800)

    *Moves hands to open the Eye of Agamotto*

    "Order a pizza from Casey's. Sausage and Mushroom."

  • This expensive e-waste doesn't just sell itself you know.
  • Overpriced branded shirt?
    Skinny jeans?
    Rashford style fade haircut?

    COMPLETE THE LOOK
    /whispers: complete the look

    With a pair overpriced Apple AI powered glasses. Let everyone know you're the king of the douchebags with a set of $1000 plastic glasses that require a $1000 phone to work and make Dame Edna Everidge's glasses look positively subtle.
  • It sounds like this will have two cameras, and the eye lenses are just for show since there are no displays. In that case, eye glasses are not the final evolution of this form. Eventually they'll chop the glasses in half so it 'clamps' to one side of the head, and add a ruby laser laser for that sweet sweet Borg effect.

  • Apple glasses can't be much more expensive than my current frames, I think they were something like $399 and that didn't include the lenses! The glasses frame industry is a cartel and hopefully some competition from new players will bring the prices down on non-smart frames...
  • by jddj ( 1085169 ) on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @01:21PM (#65996946) Journal

    There's no such word as AirPods.

    Oh wait, sorry. I thought they said "Pedant".

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