Apple CEO Tim Cook said he’s excited about the “new categories of products and services that are enabled through AI” during a meeting with company employees Thursday.
He didn’t go into specifics, but some of the new AI-powered devices reportedly on drawing boards at Apple headquarters have already leaked out. Here’s what’s coming.
Tim Cook says Apple is preparing a wave of AI-powered products
Some people think that artificial intelligence will loosen the smartphone’s grip on daily life. Rather than constantly looking at handheld screens, we’ll use AI-powered devices that anticipate our needs, understand natural language, and operate constantly in the background. We won’t pull out a device to tap and swipe; we’ll simply talk to the AI.
If devices like these really do supplant the iPhone, Apple needs to be ready with its own versions. Apple’s CEO seems well aware of this.
“There will be new categories of products and services that are enabled through AI, and we’re extremely excited about that,” Tim Cook told Apple employees, according to Bloomberg. “We’re excited about the opportunities that it opens for Apple.”
Naturally, Cook didn’t start showing off prototypes in an open meeting. But we’ve already heard about some of the AI-enabled devices in development in Cupertino.
Apple AI-enabled smart glasses
The first of these from Apple will supposedly be a pair of smart glasses. According to early reports, these will be kitted out with cameras, microphones and speakers, and be able to handle phone calls, music playback, live translations and turn-by-turn directions.
Apple reportedly fast-tracked smart glasses last fall, even as it pushed a cheaper Vision Pro headset to the back burner.
The company might show off the first version of the AI-enabled wearable — which will not include a display — this year before a launch in 2027. A second-generation version with a built-in display could arrive in 2028 … or maybe earlier.
Wearers will interact with the smart glasses via the Siri voice assistant. Although the current version is utterly incapable of handling this, Apple reportedly plans to upgrade Siri into an AI-powered chatbot this year.
Apple AI pin
Another device that will reportedly depend heavily on the revamped Siri is Apple’s AI pin. A recent leak revealed that the wearable is in active development, and will use multiple cameras and microphones to scan what’s going on around the wearer.
It could hit the market as soon as 2027.
Don’t forget the iPhone
Despite the predictions that AI devices will replace smartphones, that’s certainly not happening for years. Apple’s first forays into smart glasses and other wearables will apparently depend on an iPhone to the point where they’re essentially accessories for the handset. That’s how they can get away with not having a screen.
The AI-enabled version of Siri is also reportedly coming to iPhone with this fall’s iOS 27 release, alongside other Apple devices like the company’s first folding iPhone.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
