Apple is working on dedicated chips to power its first smart glasses, according to a new report from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.
This comes just a couple of weeks after Gurman tipped that Apple is still working on a pair of non-AR smart glasses, codenamed N50. The tech giant will likely look to compete with similar offerings from rivals, such as Meta’s fairly successful Ray-Ban spectacles.
Apple supposedly plans to use in-house chips to power its future smart glasses, much like the rest of its devices in recent years. The company’s silicon design team is making good progress on these chips, per sources familiar with the developments. While this indicates that Apple is moving forward with its smart glasses project, a final product is likely still years away.
Apple’s silicon design team has become an integral part of the company’s business in recent years. They’ve been on a pretty big roll since coming out with Apple’s M-series chips to replace Intel CPUs in its Macs, and chips for smart glasses could be the division’s next big undertaking.
Smart glasses could ultimately become yet another segment of wearables for Apple, following the Apple Watch, AirPods, and Vision Pro headset. Apple might even be working on a smart ring for the future.
The chips for these glasses will reportedly be based on the Apple Watch’s S-series processors, with further improvements in power efficiency and additions to control the multiple cameras 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,” said Gurman. TSMC, Apple’s longstanding silicon partner, will take care of production.
In addition to new chips for smart glasses, Apple is also working on chips codenamed “Nevis” and “Glennie” for a camera-equipped Apple Watch and AirPods, respectively, new M6 and M7 Mac chips, and specialized AI server chips, per Gurman. The company is planning to complete most of these projects by 2027.
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