Apple's Smart Glasses Take Shape With Four Frame Styles and a 2027 Launch Window

Overview

Apple is reportedly testing at least four frame styles for its first smart glasses, including a large rectangular frame, a slimmer rectangular option, and two oval variants, according to TechCrunch and The Next Web. The same reporting says Apple is also evaluating colors such as black, ocean blue, and light brown, while the first version would omit a display and rely on cameras and computer vision, according to The Next Web.

The picture that emerges is less a headset experiment than an everyday-accessory strategy. TechCrunch says Apple plans to sell the glasses in 2027, with a possible unveiling at the end of this year, and describes the product as closer to Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses than to the company’s Vision Pro line, according to TechCrunch.

What We Know

TechRadar reported that Apple executives Greg Joswiak and John Ternus used a recent Tom’s Guide interview to hint that smart glasses are part of Apple’s roadmap, with Joswiak saying there is “some inevitability” to combining digital and physical worlds, according to TechRadar. The same TechRadar report says Bloomberg’s coverage identified an internal code name, N50, and described the four styles Apple is testing.

The Next Web says the hardware is expected to use a custom N401 chip based on Apple Watch S-series architecture, along with two cameras: one for photo and video capture and one for computer vision, according to The Next Web. That report also says Apple is targeting production to start in December 2026, with a public launch in spring or summer 2027.

What We Don’t Know

Apple has not announced the product, the final frame, or the price. The current reporting only shows that the company is still iterating on form factor and feature balance, so the final hardware could still land as one design, multiple variants, or something different entirely, as TechCrunch reports.

Analysis

The notable shift here is not the existence of smart glasses, but Apple’s apparent decision to optimize for wearability first. If that reporting holds, the company is betting that a frame people will actually keep on their face matters more in the first generation than an AR display or a more ambitious spatial-computing pitch, as TechCrunch frames it.

That would put Apple on a more direct collision course with Meta’s Ray-Ban strategy, where the product behaves like an accessory before it behaves like a computer, according to TechCrunch.