Apple Bets On Privacy To Make Its Smart Glasses Stand Out From Meta

Apple might have stumbled with the Vision Pro headset, but the company is reportedly hoping for a successful pivot to smart glasses to challenge Meta. To try and differentiate its smart glasses from Meta’s offerings Apple will apparently focus on features and policies that put privacy at the forefront, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

While Meta has found success with its smart glasses, growing a whole new segment in the wearables market, it has recently had to endure backlash because of its privacy policies and a questionable subscription scheme. Although the former has been far more damaging, with some referring to Meta’s smart glasses as “pervert glasses.”


This may provide an opportunity for Apple, which has built its brand on privacy, to offer an appealing alternative. This includes ensuring that processing remains on device, and not using any kind of facial recognition, data generated by customers for AI training, or offering a mode that constantly scans a user’s environment the way Meta plans to do with its glasses.

Robust privacy policies and a limited feature set might not be enough to win over some customers, though, which is why the company may also working on a camera free alternative. It would provide hands free access to the new and improved Siri, handle phone calls and allow users to listen to music. Although with the company’s struggles with implementing AI features into its products this might be a tough sell, especially when AirPods can already do many of these things.

Another big obstacle Apple faces is timing. Its smart glasses won’t be available until the end of 2027 is the report is true. If Meta continues to garnet negative sentiment between now and then it could possibly poison the entire concept of smart glasses, to the point that even a company with the privacy focus of Apple is unable to overcome it.