Apple has once more extended the arrival of its long-awaited smart glasses. The device, long viewed inside Cupertino as a major step beyond the Apple Watch, now targets a launch in the final months of 2027. That marks a clear slip from earlier hopes of an unveiling late this year and shipments in early 2027.
Mark Gurman laid out the revised schedule in his Bloomberg newsletter. “There have been some bumps on the road to Apple becoming an eyewear giant,” he wrote. “It had initially planned to introduce its smart glasses, code-named N50, at the end of 2026 and ship them by early 2027. But as is often the case with major new Apple products, there have been delays. The company is now working toward launching the glasses at the end of next year.”
The setback comes as no surprise to those tracking Apple’s hardware cadence. Similar shifts have hit other ambitious projects. Yet the glasses carry extra weight. Tim Cook regards them as a top priority, according to people close to the CEO. John Ternus, set to succeed Cook in September, has driven the effort for the past two years. Both executives see the product as central to Apple’s future in wearable computing.
Development snags. Visual intelligence shortfalls. Siri dependencies.
Those factors explain much of the delay. The glasses rely heavily on a revamped Siri expected later this year. They also demand strong visual AI capabilities so users can point the device at objects and receive useful answers. Apple refuses to ship until those systems meet its standards. 9to5Mac noted that visual AI concerns appear central. The company does not want an unpolished debut.
Design work continues in parallel. Apple has tested four frame styles. Large rectangular shapes echo classic Ray-Ban Wayfarers. Slimmer rectangles, larger ovals, and smaller circular options round out the lineup. Oval-shaped cameras will handle photos, video, and computer vision tasks. Unique colors and acetate materials aim to position the glasses as fashion items rather than pure gadgets.
Functionality starts practical. The glasses will connect to an iPhone for processing power. Users can capture images, make calls, listen to music, and interact with an improved Siri that draws on surroundings for context. Over time Apple expects the hardware to grow into a health monitoring tool. Later versions may add augmented reality overlays that enhance everyday vision. True standalone AR glasses remain years away, likely past 2030.
CNET captured the ambition clearly. Gurman told the outlet that “over time, Apple believes the glasses could evolve into a health device and eventually incorporate augmented reality technologies capable of improving how people see.” The eyewear market offers scale. Billions wear prescription lenses, sunglasses, or frames as accessories. Apple wants a slice of that.
Competitors have not waited. Meta spent two years refining its Ray-Ban smart glasses. The latest models deliver capable cameras, speakers, and AI features that answer questions about the world. Sales have climbed. Industry data from Counterpoint Research shows the smart glasses category grew 139 percent year-over-year in the second half of 2025. Meta currently leads. Google and Samsung also push forward with their own wearable cameras and AI assistants.
But Apple approaches the segment with a different playbook. Its strategy mirrors the Apple Watch launch more than a decade ago. Back then the company competed against both tech wearables and traditional watchmakers such as Swatch, Fossil, and Seiko. Success came from blending fashion appeal, health sensors, and tight iPhone integration.
The same logic applies here. The Verge highlighted the parallel. Apple will target not only Meta and Samsung but also Oakley, Ray-Ban, and Warby Parker in the $200-to-$500 price range. “The company believes its strong brand, industrial design and iPhone integration will lead people seeking new regular glasses to spring for an Apple pair instead,” Gurman explained. “Apple’s existing ecosystem of over 2 billion active devices, its global retail footprint and the promise of artificial intelligence features that could help people interact with the world around them will help as well.”
The eyewear market dwarfs watches. Annual sales hover near $180 billion to $200 billion compared with $132 billion for timepieces. Even a modest share would deliver meaningful revenue. And unlike the $3,499 Vision Pro, these glasses aim for broad appeal. They avoid the bulk and isolation that limited the mixed-reality headset’s audience.
That said, the Vision Pro saga still casts a shadow. Apple continues work on a slimmer, lighter successor called Vision Air. Gurman expects no launch before late 2028 or 2029. “Apple needs to fix the design and pricing problems that turned the first Vision Pro into a flop, and that category will essentially be on ice until then,” he wrote in the same newsletter. The delay in smart glasses gives engineers more time to refine the underlying AI that could one day bridge both product lines.
Recent reporting reinforces the shift. Digital Trends confirmed the late-2027 target on May 31, 2026, noting the heavy dependence on Siri improvements. Supply-chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had already pointed toward 2027 shipments of three to five million units. The consensus now aligns on a more measured rollout.
Investors appear patient. Apple shares have climbed steadily despite the wait. The company’s services business and installed base provide breathing room. Still, every quarter without new hardware categories invites questions. The smart glasses represent one of the clearest growth avenues beyond the iPhone.
Privacy questions linger too. Cameras on the face raise concerns that Meta has already navigated with mixed success. Apple’s track record on data protection may offer reassurance, but execution will matter. The company has stayed silent on specifics. Representatives declined comment to multiple outlets.
So the timeline stretches again. Late 2027 now becomes the marker. By then Meta may have released several generations of its glasses. Google could expand its offerings. Yet Apple rarely rushes. It prefers to arrive late and dominate. The Watch followed that pattern. The iPhone rewrote the phone industry years after BlackBerry and Nokia led.
Whether the glasses repeat that success depends on details still hidden. How accurate will the visual AI prove? Can the battery last a full day? Will prescription lenses integrate cleanly? Those answers remain months or years away. But the direction is set. Apple intends to turn everyday eyewear into an intelligent companion. The only variable left is exactly when it will reach customers’ faces. And right now, that moment sits at the far end of 2027.
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