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Photo credit: Martin Hajek/iDropnews)
As Apple doubles down on its efforts to launch a triple AI wearable, its expected smart glasses will reportedly be at the forefront of a battle with Meta Ray-Bans. It already has such a feature: visual intelligence.
As Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman points out, Apple’s rumored AI glasses will rely on the company’s visual AI to “see” the world. As part of Apple Intelligence, Visual Intelligence can see objects, read text, and get information about them. It’s getting ready to be fully integrated into Apple’s first smart spec. The title of Gurman’s article calls it Apple’s “next big thing.”
Visual intelligence will certainly power Apple’s next generation of AI devices, and it looks like we’ll first see it used in AI-powered smart glasses. If so, it would be the first major stepping stone to challenge the best smart glasses on the market today – catching up with the likes of the latest Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
What is Apple Visual Intelligence?
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Apple’s Visual Intelligence is an artificial intelligence feature that allows users to analyze screen content and the world around them through the camera. It can recognize objects and provide information about them, answer questions about what it sees, allow for real-time translation, instant web searches, and more.
It launched first on iPhone 16 Pro and is available on iPhone 15 Pro and above. It relies on OpenAI’s ChatGPT to get its results, and it’s become a quick way to find details about the photos you’ve taken.
Essentially, it’s Apple’s version of Google Lens, and it would make sense that Apple smart features would appear on the Cupertino tech giant’s rumored smart glasses. But what’s interesting is that it’s expected to be the main feature driving the specs.
Leading in visual intelligence
Photo credit: Martin Hajek/iDropnews)
During Apple’s earnings call, Gurman noted that CEO Tim Cook strongly hinted at his interest in visual intelligence, making it clear there’s more to the feature:
“One of our most popular features is Visual Intelligence, which helps users learn and do more with content on their iPhone screen to search, take action and answer questions in apps faster,” Cook said.
Apple’s potential AI wearables are reportedly equipped with cameras, including the AI Pendant and AI AirPods, so it would make sense for Apple to leverage technology it’s already using. And it will also improve.
Apple is reportedly developing its own AI vision model, which could coincide with the eventual release of Siri 2.0 in 2026. These models will take full advantage of the built-in cameras expected in smart glasses, which are expected to be used to take photos and record videos.
However, there are rumors that Apple’s AI smart glasses will be equipped with a high-resolution camera for taking pictures and videos, as well as a camera dedicated to visual intelligence.
If Apple does put visual intelligence into its smart specs, it’ll be interesting to see what other features it can offer in new form factors beyond the iPhone.
Chasing Meta
Credit:Future
With the tools Apple Vision Intelligence offers on smart glasses, this still isn’t a bold new feature as Meta already has its own form of vision AI.
Like the Ray-Ban Meta (2nd Generation) and Meta Ray-Ban Display, these specs are able to “see” what you’re looking at – able to identify objects and display information about them and answer questions. They can also help navigate in the map, which is handy (but there’s still some improvement to be done in that area). Yes, you can expect these features on Google’s Android XR glasses, too.
Regardless, bringing visual intelligence to the expected Apple Glasses is a no-brainer, suggesting the Cupertino team is already capable of delivering smart specs to catch up with the competition when they launch in late 2026 or 2027.
Cook seems convinced that visual intelligence will flourish, and Apple’s smart glasses appear to be the device that demonstrates this vision. Also, learn how to get the most out of Visual Intelligence on iPhone.
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