Apple Is Delaying Its Smart Glasses Reveal (For A Good Reason)

First expected to be introduced later in 2026, Apple is reportedly delaying its smart glasses launch. In his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggests that Apple's marketing and engineering teams are working on improving the product while also ensuring the company can convey the message that this is a privacy-first device. While smart glasses have become a lot more popular in the past few years, thanks to Meta's partnership with Ray-Ban, they introduce some privacy concerns. Many people were able to easily mod their Meta Glasses to disable the recording light, which is definitely scary.

With that, what started as a cool way to record videos and take photos hands-free to post on Instagram has now been dubbed as "pervert glasses," which is no good PR for any brand. Even though Meta finally responded to the criticism after a report by former Wall Street Journal journalist Joanna Stern revealed how easy it was to block the Meta glasses' LED, it seems Apple has decided to take the right step and delay revealing its version, not only to make the glasses appeal to a broader audience, but also to ensure it doesn't suffer the same scrutiny Meta is currently facing. After all, it already had a nightmare with AirTags being used to stalk people instead of tracking items in the past.

According to Mark Gurman, Apple is watching how its industry peers are dealing with what Samsung called an 'industry-shared problem', so that once it releases its smart glasses, it will have already adopted some preventive measures. Since Apple is one of the top voices in Silicon Valley on calling privacy a 'fundamental human right', the company might have a lot more at stake if its smart glasses pass the wrong message. Gurman suggests that Apple will opt for on-device processing while avoiding features like facial recognition or human reviews of footage from its product. The device is expected to highlight hands-free Siri while having battery life that can last all day.

One way that Apple could prevent backlash would be to follow the same strategy as XGIMI's new MemoMind One, which ditches cameras and focuses on other features like a built-in display, music playback, and a lot of AI. Gurman says Apple has considered two possible scenarios — no cameras at all, or a full-fledged camera system reserved for AI features, such as recognizing landmarks, objects, and helping users with visual intelligence. The final decision hasn't been made yet, so plans could change until Apple announces these glasses at WWDC 2027.

Ahead of the iPhone's 20th anniversary, the company will also introduce several new products that will shape its future, including new smart home devices, all-new AirPods, and the second generation of its foldable phone, alongside the much-anticipated MacBook with a touchscreen OLED display. In addition to that, 2027 will truly mark John Ternus' first steps as Apple's CEO. So far, Ternus has been responsible for introducing the MacBook Neo, and he will also be the face of Apple's first foldable, as current Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to step down on September 1st.

With so many AI-first devices expected to be released, Ternus' priority is ensuring the new Siri AI works as well as possible. To be fair, we've been impressed with Siri AI features in the iOS beta so far. That said, the upcoming iPhone event and then Apple's WWDC 2027 will mark important steps in the early years of John Ternus as Apple's CEO.