Apple is working on a new chip that will act as the brain for its future smart devices, including its first smart glasses, more powerful Macbooks and artificial intelligence servers, according to a Bloomberg report.
The Cupertino-based tech giant is said to have made progress on the chip it is developing for its smart glasses. The new processor for these smart glasses is said to be inspired by the chips used in the Apple Watch, which consume less power than the parts used in other Apple products such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Apple is said to have tweaked the chip to remove some parts to improve power efficiency, while also designing it to control multiple cameras.
The Tim Cook-led company is reportedly planning to mass produce these processors by the end of 2027, and if successful, new Apple smart glasses could be released in the next two years. The new glasses would be in direct competition with the Ray Ban smart glasses developed by Meta.
Apple has reportedly been planning to develop smart glasses for years. The original idea was to use augmented reality to superimpose media, notifications and apps on top of the real world view, but this idea is said to be years away from being practical.
Meanwhile, Apple is now planning to jump into the non-AR smart glasses market to compete with Meta, and has also conducted user studies with employees on the concept. The non-AR glasses would reportedly use cameras to scan the environment and rely on AI to assist users. With its AI capabilities already being questioned with iOS 18 rollout, Apple is looking to improve its technology before launching the new smart glasses.
Apple’s plans to make Apple watch and AirPods AI products:
Aside from the smart glasses, Apple is also said to be working on adding cameras to AirPods and smartwatches in a bid to turn these devices into AI products. For the camera-equipped Apple Watch, the company is developing a chip called Nevis, while the AirPods would have a similar component called Glennie.
The tech giant is also working on many new Mac chips which could be known as M6 (codenamed Komodo) and M7 (codenamed Borneo). There is also a more advanced processor in development dubbed Sotra. Notably, Apple could bring out its M5 processor with the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro by the end of this year.
