▶️ According to a new Bloomberg report by Mark Gurman, Apple is working on three new wearable devices. The company is reportedly developing smart glasses, AirPods with cameras and "advanced artificial intelligence capabilities," as well as "a pendant that can be attached to a shirt or worn as a necklace."

▶️ All three devices are "built around the digital assistant Siri," which "will use visual context to perform actions." All devices will be paired with an iPhone, and all will have cameras, but on the AirPods and pendant, the cameras will be low-resolution, needed only for AI assistance, not for taking photos or videos.

▶️ The glasses, on the other hand, will be "more advanced and functional," with higher-quality cameras. Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook told an all-hands meeting that the company is working on new product categories based on artificial intelligence. Cook said that "the world is changing rapidly" and that is why Apple is investing in new technologies.

▶️ Before launching entirely new product categories, maybe Apple should finally release the laughably delayed smarter Siri with AI? Even for that, it needed help from Google, so it's unclear how good the glasses, pendant, and new AirPods will be.

▶️ Speaking of the pendant. A similar idea was tried a few years ago by Humane with catastrophic results, and the obvious question remains: why not just use a phone? Or a smartwatch? Apple's pendant will be an accessory for the iPhone, not a standalone device meant to replace your iPhone, like the Humane AI Pin, which functions as an always-on camera for the iPhone, as well as a microphone for talking to Siri.

▶️ Some Apple employees reportedly call it the "eyes and ears" of the iPhone, which sounds not at all creepy. The pendant doesn't even have as much computing power as the Apple Watch — "in terms of computing power, it's closer to AirPods than to Apple Watch," which again raises the question of why it's being developed at all. In any case, it will go on sale next year, if it isn't canceled before then.

▶️ Apparently, Apple's smart glasses will also arrive next year, but without a display. However, they will have speakers, microphones, and cameras. Apple reportedly wants to differentiate them from Meta's Ray-Ban glasses by installing higher-quality cameras and improving build quality. The frames are being developed internally at Apple "in various sizes and colors."

▶️ They will have two cameras: one for "high-resolution shots" and another for computer vision, which is described as "technology similar to that used in Vision Pro." It "provides the device with environmental context, helping it more accurately interpret the surroundings and measure distances between objects."

▶️ The thing is, these glasses are supposedly meant to work as an AI assistant throughout the day, watching what you do in real time (until the battery dies). You'll be able to look at an object, ask what it is, and get help with everyday tasks. The glasses will also add event data from a poster directly to the calendar and create contextual reminders, such as suggesting you pick up an item when you look at a certain shelf in a grocery store.

▶️ For navigation, Siri will use real-world landmarks, telling you to walk past a specific car or building before turning. And all of this is only slightly more convenient than using a phone, meaning Apple really will have to work on the design of these glasses to make them successful.

▶️ All these products seem like solutions in search of a problem to solve, or, simply put, Apple is desperately trying to find something big, since the Vision Pro certainly wasn't a breakthrough.

#Apple

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