No, Apple didn’t announce it smart glasses of WWDC. Or Camera AirPods. Or a a folding phone. This developer conference, as many expected, did not have any new products. But when this show was like that all about the new Siri and other AI capabilities, in many ways that is exactly what is needed to drive smart glasses and more in the coming years.
I said this in the case of a preview before WWDC, and now that the news is out I feel like it’s even more true.
Watch this: WWDC26 Reality: Reacting to Siri AI
A persistent, deeper and more intuitive AI framework that works on all Apple devices looks like the first stage of the program Apple glasses or AirPods cameras or really anything else that can be relied on to feel like extensions of the Apple product ecosystem. And it may turn out to be private as well maybe a little creepy that’s technical repetition Meta again Google they’ve been improving, too.
I’ve been giving Siri AI a little try with Apple’s developer preview beta, and it’s already getting me thinking.
Apart from the display, Apple’s first-generation glasses will need the supercharged new Siri to track things in the built-in app. (Meta Ray-Bans shown here.)
An AI app to connect everything
Any smart glasses that exist in the world right now work on the same AI platform. Meta uses Meta AI. Google uses Gemini. Now, apparently, Apple’s glasses expected in 2027 will use Siri AI. The glasses use AI to see the world through cameras, and voice, and can log into notifications and apps when possible.
Meta Mirrors are hampered by their relatively few hook-ins, which makes their AI feel disconnected from many things you might be doing in apps elsewhere. Only a few apps are currently connectable: Spotify, Apple Music, Strava, Garmin and the main Meta apps. The Meta begins turn on app development with its display glasses, but many applications actually work as browser extensions.
Siri built into the app now means that devices without screens, such as glasses, may have better compatibility with other connected devices such as phones. It also remembers previous conversations.
Google he will move things forward by linking to Gemini, and working as an extension on Android. The line of glasses coming this fall should be a big leap forward in making glasses that feel like extensions of your phone, even offering apps and notifications on display-enabled models.
Apple seems to have the chops now to get to glasses, in the form of Siri, based on everything I’ve seen. The new iteration of Siri can save a history of conversations, work across devices and even perform actions to communicate with apps or write in apps like Notes or Calendar.
Watch this: What We Know About the New Siri, Coming to All Your Apple Devices
There is one area where Apple can leapfrog everyone else, though, and that’s the deep set of themes about Apple’s apps and the content we store in them. I don’t know how well the new Siri works yet, but Apple’s retooling of all its devices using Spotlight search is done to get Siri awareness of everything. App permissions to access Siri, which are already set in the “app intent framework” that Apple has on its devices, can allow Siri to connect to other apps easily. And if Siri can do it, then the glasses can do it, too.
Visual Intelligence in Siri is developing a lot this year, and smart glasses will need it.
Siri can see things better now
Apple also added a layer that was missing, for the most part. Siri can see things in the room when the Camera app is open on the iPhone or see what’s on your phone’s screen. In Vision Pro, camera awareness is even faster in VisionOS 27. Asking Siri what’s there, and simply looking at it, triggers Siri awareness of what you see in the app or in the room with you.
Apple doesn’t have “live” continuous awareness of Siri’s gaze yet. Meta and Google both have live modes on their glasses and the Samsung Galaxy XR can see and analyze videos or video games continuously, or be a constant companion while you’re actively doing something. But that may come. What you’ll find in Siri AI from the fall is a huge leap forward in a big missing piece.
Siri lives as an orb in VisionOS 27 now, and can see your room and your open apps.
The appearance of Vision Pro is a symbol
Apple Vision Pro headphones benefit a few subtle improvements with Siri AI and VisionOS 27, and each of them feels like a piece that could be part of the glasses.
Siri has a very different expression in VisionOS, with a shiny ball-shaped form that might look like it’s right at home with you. When Apple tries to make AR glasses that can shrink the Vision Pro and connect to a phone — similar in spirit to Google’s vision and Xreal’s. The Aura Projectcoming later this year, using a phone-like processing puck — perhaps this form of Siri could emerge. It’s also an ever-aware AI, which sees everything that can fit into those glasses, starting with what’s appearing in VisionOS now.
Apple also added a small trick to expand notifications when you look at them in the new VisionOS, something that makes me wonder if Apple is trying to imagine that notifications on everyday glasses can expand and contract on the fly to avoid distractions. Apple’s glasses probably won’t have eye tracking anytime soon, but perhaps those notifications will slow down and increase with hand gestures or air taps with the Apple Watch, which now has another gesture command. on WatchOS 27 to add to its ever-growing collection.
Apple’s glasses could be the next important piece in the connected device puzzle.
The Vision Pro is a rich, powerful and expensive computer, something that glasses won’t be able to achieve for a long time.
But Siri has all the pieces of the thesis on all of Apple’s multiform devices, and Apple is committed to making it all work in private. That sounds exactly like the formula for smart glasses — or AI pendants, or camera-equipped AirPods — to feel like a smart friend.
The Vision Pro is taking the first steps, but I expect that the glasses will take part of the journey where Apple is looking next. We won’t know anything now, and we may not hear anything again until 2027. But WWDC for Apple’s infrastructure in 2026 was probably the next big step to get there.
