Apple shelves work on cheaper, lighter Vision Air for 2027 for AI smart glasses to beat Meta

Apple has reportedly halted development on its new Vision Pro headset to handle something more important: making its new AR smart glasses to compete against Meta, which has been making inroads into the market with release after release.

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In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg writer Mark Gurman says that even with Apple's (expensive) attempts to interest consumers in the Vision Pro have "fallen flat", so the company is "increasingly trying to pivot its marketing of the device towards businesses".

Gurman says that Apple has "hit pause" on its planned overhaul to its new Vision Pro headset in order to direct resources to a "more urgent effort: developing smart glasses that can rival products from Meta". Apple was reportedly preparing a cheaper, lighter variant of its AR headset codenamed "N100" for a 2027 release, but now Apple has internally announced that it's moving staff from that project to accelerate work on glasses.

Apple is reportedly working on two different types of smart glasses, the first of which is codenamed "N50" that will pair with an iPhone and lack its own display, something Apple will reportedly announce as soon as 2026 with a 2027 release. The second headset will feature a display, something that "could challenge" the just-released Meta Ray-Bans Display. This headset was aiming for a 2028 release, but now Apple is looking to "accelerate development" according to Gurman's sources.

Meta hasn't slowed down in its progress with its smart glasses push, with the company's first smart glasses -- the Ray-Ban Stories releasing in 2021 -- and then the newer Ray-Bans Meta launching in 2023. Just last month, Meta released its non-display glasses with beefed-up cameras, longer battery life, and new designs tailored towards athletes.

Meta has its planned Hypernova AI glasses rumored for a $799 price tag to beat whatever Apple releases to the market with its smart glasses, going so far as accelerating its smart glasses development further, seeking out suppliers in South Korea over Chinese suppliers for its supply chain.

Apple's upcoming AR smart glasses are expected to sport a bunch of different styles, a more powerful M series processor, speakers for music playback, cameras for media recording, and voice recording that will work with a connected iPhone.