According to Bloomberg, the company has made progress in smart glasses chips, with chip-based processors used in Apple Watch, requiring less energy than components in products such as iPhone, iPad and Mac. The chip has been customized to remove some parts to further improve energy efficiency.
The company aims to start mass production of processors by the end of next year or 2027. If successful, smart glasses could be launched on the market in about the next two years.
Apple has spent many years trying to develop smart glasses - a light that consumers can wear all day, developing augmented reality (AR) technology, but there are still many years left to make it a reality.
Meanwhile, Meta and other companies have succeeded with non-AR smart glasses that can take photos, play audio, make phone calls, and let users talk to voice assistants.
In addition to smart glasses, Apple has been researching additional cameras on its AirPods and smartwatch, with the goal of turning those products into good AI products.
The company is also developing a chip called Nevis for the Apple Watch, with a target of launching in 2027.
In addition to semiconductors for smaller devices, Apple is working on a number of new Mac chips, including processors that could be called M6 (Komodo) and M7 (Borneo). There is another more advanced Mac chip in development called the Sotra. The company is planning to add the M5 processor to the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro by the end of this year at the earliest.
Meanwhile, Apple also aims to manufacture chips for AI servers. They will help process Apple Intelligence platform requirements remotely and provide information to consumer devices.
This AI server chip development project is called Baltra, expected to be completed in 2027. As part of this effort, Apple is considering different types of chips, including those with double, four or eight times the main processor core and graphics compared to the current M3 Ultra.
Semiconductors will help Apple's AI services become faster and stronger, potentially helping the company catch up in a field they are struggling with.
