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While Tim Cook prepares to hand over the job of CEO of Apple By John TernusThe future of Apple’s product line looks more uncertain than ever. Foldable phones, Touchscreen Macs Maybe even Robotic home paintings It could be all deck in the next couple of years. But also, there’s a whole wave of wearable AI devices. And as Apple WWDC Developers Conference Looming on the horizon, we still don’t know what AI plans might be necessary to make it work.
Reports A Three wearable devices with artificial intelligence technology They have circulated over the past year, including smart glasses, a camera-equipped necklace, and camera-equipped AirPods. Add to that the Apple Watch and the yearly updated iPhones they’ll all use to connect to it, and there’s a lot of hardware in the mix.
Watch this: Is Apple finally ready to talk about future wearables at WWDC?
While every other tech company on the planet can’t stop talking about AI — Google I/O Keynote Last month was two hours of uninterrupted love of artificial intelligence and Smart glasses powered by artificial intelligence -Apple has been pretty quiet about this topic after its lackluster launch Apple intelligence In 2024. However, the cat is already out of the bag regarding a key part of Apple’s AI plans, with Google’s Gemini partnership for Siri Announced back in January.
Now Apple needs to reveal details about what a Gemini-infused Siri will look like in the real world — and there’s no better time than WWDC.
Glasses like Google and upcoming Samsung models rely heavily on camera-aware AI that Apple doesn’t yet have.
AI is a missing piece for the next and current devices
I don’t particularly like being surrounded by AI, or the environmental and economic drain on resources that AI is causing at the moment. But the next generation of wearable assistants that Apple seems poised to build needs a different level of AI — camera awareness, better voice response, and the kind of deeper analysis of text and audio that all the other major AI platforms already offer.
But Apple hasn’t yet built this advanced AI — AI that can run across all of its devices, handling data in a proprietary way. It won’t bother anyone It’s best to do so without increasing your subscriptions.
Apple could rely on AI to power its own devices, an approach that has already been confirmed by Apple Intelligence. Mac Minis have already become a popular way to run local AI servers. With iPhone and Apple Watch chips getting faster every year, there’s more that Apple’s wearables can theoretically do without needing to connect to the cloud at all.
The completely missing layer is more advanced visual intelligence, or multimodal AI. Apple has parts of Visual intelligence On iPhones, but it’s basic stuff. Studded sensor Apple Vision Pro It lacks a lot of the camera-aware AI assistance services that Samsung and Google offer Galaxy XR headset Indeed, but Vision Pro can operate it easily Using the cloud or the very powerful M5 chip – if AI is applied.
Along with the AirPods, the Apple Watch could be Apple’s biggest entry point into AI.
New wearables may be coming out for years, but some of them are here now
It’s a two-part puzzle right now: Apple needs new AI-ready devices, but it also needs AI. The latest report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple’s Glasses are now on target Until the end of 2027While previous reports indicate that AirPods equipped with a camera will be launched by the end of this year.
Smart glassesas they currently exist, are devices based entirely on artificial intelligence. Meta glasses and Google and Samsung coming Use microphones, voice chat, and camera-aware live modes to translate, recognize, and describe anything in camera range. It can serve as an auxiliary pair of eyes for visually impaired wearers. The devices need a phone connection to work and transfer their AI to the cloud, but they also include some offline functionality that can still work with voice commands.
AI necklaces are much the same story, but in a different form – largely to improve battery life and as an alternative to wearing glasses.
AirPods could be first on deck for an AI breakthrough.
Meanwhile, camera-equipped Airpods could be the first wave of new wearables this fall to offer some sensors to work with Apple’s more advanced Siri. Even so, Apple may limit what the new AirPods can do early on, by putting in deeper assistive features later when Siri’s Gemini functionality becomes more fleshed out.
I expected that Apple watchOn the other hand, you can get the benefits of artificial intelligence sooner. Google Gemini Analysis Of new health data Fitbit Air It’s a sign of where Apple could go with its Health app and Watch data. The Apple Watch could also be more responsive to voice commands than the limited subset of things Siri now allows.
Additionally, the Apple Watch has a small but growing number of wrist gestures: taps and finger taps for now, but why not add other gestures that can interact with AI? It doesn’t have a camera, but for voice and gesture interactions, it could start to show how AI could work on earbuds, glasses, and even pendants.
I’m sure WWDC will tell us more, but not everything. I’ll be there, and CNET will report on everything. I’ll be back with more thoughts on all of this soon enough.
