Apple said to delay smart glasses debut after Meta backlash

Apple is likely to wait until WWDC 2027 to unveil its own take on smart glasses. That's in part because of additional work on privacy features, and other product safeguards, at a time when Meta's smart glasses are coming under fire.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple views privacy as its top priority, with engineers and marketers trying hard to distinguish the company's approach from Meta's. Apple is expected to avoid using facial recognition in its smart glasses, while sending less data to the cloud and processing more in the device itself. The company also won't use customer recordings to train AI models.

Given the phrase "pervert glasses" has been gaining traction online in reference to the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, all of those moves from Apple make sense. Meta's glasses helped establish the consumer market for AI-powered eyewear, but have also become associated with problems of privacy and consent.

We've reported on prank creators and pickup artists using Meta Ray-Ban glasses to discreetly record strangers for viral social media content, even as concerns were raised around the legality of recording in public spaces. Privacy advocates note wearable cameras make covert recording easier, and could encourage businesses to restrict the devices.

Meta's latest smart glasses launch, including new fashion-focused frames, sparked even more debate over the visibility of the glasses' recording indicators. They're drawing scrutiny from lawmakers, and consumers are increasingly uneasy.

No wonder Apple has considered limiting or removing video-recording capabilities altogether, according to Gurman. However, doing so might undermine one of the biggest selling points of smart glasses — legitimately capturing priceless moments with family and friends.

If Apple introduces smart glasses — whether at WWDC 2027 or after — the company will be judged by whether it can convince consumers that its camera-equipped eyewear is more deserving of trust than the devices that came before it.