Apple Smart Glasses: Ray-Bans-like, will drive the next wave of consumer electronics in 2027

Apple's upcoming Smart Glasses are in the headlines today, with the Ray-Bans-like smart glasses expected with no display, using a gesture recognition user interface, and expected to release in 2027.

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In a new report from insider Ming-Chi Kuo, we've got a bunch of new details on Apple's Vision Pro and Smart Glasses roadmap for 2025-2028, with the new Smart Glasses being a Ray-Bans-like product that is expected to arrive in multiple frames and temple material options, with mass production expected in Q2 2027.

Apple is reportedly projecting shipments of its new Smart Glasses to be somewhere between 3 million and 5 million or more in 2027, with no display functionality and core features including audio playback, camera, video recording, and "AI environmental sensing" reports Kuo.

Kuo adds that Apple's purported Smart Glasses will "potentially replace some TWS and smartphone camera functions" adding that the new product category represents the smart glasses segment with "highest near-term potential" with global shipments across all brands expected to exceed 10 million units in 2027".

We're also hearing about the XR glasses from Apple, which Kuo says will enter mass production in the second half of 2028 with the same voice control and gesture recognition user interface as Apple's upcoming Smart Glasses. The difference here is that the XR glasses will feature a display with LCoS with waveguide technology, supporting a color display. AI functionality is "crucial to product success", with Kuo adding that an additional variant is in development with a later production timeline and "lower visibility" in the market.

Kuo finishes the smart glasses-type product roadmap from Apple with a "display accessory" that was originally scheduled for Q2 2026 after a pause since Q4 2024. Apple's new "display accessory" is reportedly under review for repositioning and specification refinement, with a "project restart possible".

This new display accessory would be a tethered connection to display content from Apple devices like an iPhone, with its display technology featuring Birdbath optics with electrochromic dimming as an "additional key selling point". Kuo reports that development on Apple's purported display accessory halted due to "insufficient competitive advantage" as the weight of the display accessory would be around 120-130g versus the current competing products weighing under 100g.

Apple's new smart glasses are set to "drive the next wave in consumer electronics" but if the company is integrating AI, then it has a long way to go after tripping over and pretty much failing the AI market so far with its Apple Intelligence flopping alongside the expensive, and not-so-great selling Vision Pro headset.