Apple is building smart glasses without a display to serve as an AI wearable

According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Apple is developing smart glasses that skip the display entirely and instead function as an AI wearable. The glasses are part of a three-device strategy - glasses, AirPods, and a camera pendant - all designed to capture the user's surroundings through computer vision and feed that data to Siri and Apple Intelligence. The goal is to enable features like better navigation instructions and visual reminders.

The glasses, internally codenamed N50, are expected to be announced in late 2026 or early 2027 and go on sale the same year. A distinguishing design feature will be vertically oriented oval camera lenses. Unlike Meta, Google, and Samsung, which partner with established eyewear manufacturers, Apple plans to handle the design in-house. The glasses will rely on the new version of Siri shipping with iOS 27.