GoKawiilNo, Apple didn't announce smart glasses at WWDC. Or camera AirPods. Or a folding phone. This developer conference was, as many expected, free of new products. But while this show was all about the new Siri and other AI capabilities, in many ways that's exactly what's needed to drive smart glasses and more in the next years.
I said this in a preview story ahead of WWDC, and now that the news is out I feel like it's even more true.
Watch this: What We Know About the New Siri, Coming to All Your Apple Things 03:52
A persistent, more deeply aware and visually enabled AI framework that now works across all Apple devices looks like phase one of a system that Apple glasses or camera AirPods or really anything else could lean on to feel like extensions of the Apple product ecosystem. And it might turn out to be a more private and maybe less creepy iteration of the tech that Meta and Google have been advancing, too.
I've already been trying a bit of Siri AI via Apple's early developer preview beta, and it's already getting me thinking.
Without displays, Apple's first-gen glasses are going to need the new supercharged Siri to keep track of things in a contained app. (Meta Ray-Bans shown here.) Scott Stein/CNET
An AI app to link everything
Any pair of smart glasses that's out in the world right now runs on a single AI platform. Meta uses Meta AI. Google uses Gemini. Now, clearly, the Apple glasses expected in 2027 will use Siri AI. Glasses use AI to recognize the world through cameras, and voice, and it can hook in notifications and apps when possible.
Meta's glasses have been hindered by their relatively few phone hook-ins, which makes their AI feel disconnected from most things anyone might be doing on apps anywhere else. Only a few apps interlink right now: Spotify, Apple Music, Strava, Garmin and Meta's own core apps. Meta's starting to open up app development for its display glasses, but a lot of the apps really work more like browser extensions.
Siri being contained in an app now means devices without screens, like glasses, might have better continuity with other devices you're connected to like phones. It also remembers previous conversations. Apple/CNET screenshot
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