Apple is pondering the development of a fitness ring, smart glasses and AirPods with cameras, beyond the launch of the Vision Pro headset. But the big question is how, says Bloomberg in a report that suggests that lower-cost wearable options could be the way to go.
Wearable devices have already become a solid business for Apple. Bloomberg confirms that the division that includes the Apple Watch and AirPods now accounts for 10% of the company’s revenue, up from less than 5% a decade ago.
While the fitness ring is currently only an idea, the glasses are under a “technology investigation” within Apple’s hardware engineering division, and according to the report, Apple is also looking at the idea of equipping AirPods with cameras, amongst others.
The advantage of the hypothetical ring could serve as a low-cost way to gather key health data without the need to access apps or phone calls via an Apple Watch, says Bloomberg, suggesting that the ring could be tied to the company’s Health and Fitness apps and sold as an iPhone accessory – this way, it could maintain customer loyalty.
Although the development of true augmented reality glasses that would meet high Apple’s standards are possibly many years away, Bloomberg points out that a less ambitious product could still be functional, as Amazon and Meta have demonstrated with the Echo Frames and Ray-Ban Smart Glasses, whose second versions have sold better than expected.
One way for Apple to approach the smart glasses market, suggests Bloomberg, is to embrace its idea to create AirPod-replacing spectacles, and include sturdier batteries, more sensors and broader AI capabilities.
These glasses would be less expensive than Apple’s Vision Pro, and with its cameras, speakers and health sensors, could make it more appealing to mainstream consumers, says the report.
Apple is already exploring the idea of putting cameras on the Airpod’s earbuds, which Bloomberg points out could theoretically be used to capture data that would be processed via AI and assist people in their daily routines.
