Apple has reportedly considered putting tiny cameras in the Airpods. HS You / Flickr (Creative Commons)
Apple is considering smart rings, smart glasses and equipping Airpods with cameras.
Apple has already filed patents related to smart glasses and rings.
A smart ring could offer customers a cheaper way to track their health and fitness data.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Business Insider. It was automatically translated and checked by a real editor.
According to a new report, in addition to further developing its Airpods, Apple has also considered some new ideas for future wearables.
The company has discussed developing a smart ring, although it is not actively working on the product, reported “Bloomberg.” The company is also exploring whether it should make smart glasses and equip the Airpods with tiny cameras that could bring AI benefits, the report said.
For those who follow Apple’s potential product pipeline closely, there are public indications that the company has at least thought about how it might develop a ring or a pair of glasses. Apple has a history of issuing a number of patents for smart glasses and smart rings, dating back at least ten years.
Previous patented ring designs from Apple show illustrations of a ring with a built-in touchscreen, a computer processor, a wireless transceiver and a rechargeable power source, similar to a smaller Apple Watch.
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Apple’s new ideas are still in the “exploration phase”
Of course, filing a patent doesn’t mean the company will end up making a device. According to the report, Apple also thought early on about developing smart glasses as a possible alternative to Airpods.
Apple’s smart glasses idea is in an “exploratory phase,” described by the company’s hardware engineers as a “technology investigation,” according to a Bloomberg report published on Sunday.
The company would face some competition if it moved forward with either idea. Mark Zuckerberg recently said that Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses are selling better than expected, thanks in part to their AI features. Meta’s glasses can record and live stream videos, interact with the company’s AI agent and play music.
Mark Zuckerberg unveils the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses at an event in September 2023. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
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Meanwhile, Apple is also exploring ways to further innovate Airpods, one of its most popular wearables.
According to Bloomberg, in a project codenamed B798, the company is testing attaching low-resolution cameras to earbuds that are about the same size as the current AirPods. In theory, AI could use the footage from the cameras to help people track their daily activities and optimize their daily routines, the report says.
Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider US’s request for comment Sunday before publication.
And while the smart ring isn’t currently in the works, some employees at Apple are apparently still fond of the idea as a budget-friendly way to get people to track their health and fitness when they’re not wearing an Apple Watch, according to the report .
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Samsung has announced a Galaxy Ring that will offer health and wellness tracking. Screenshot / Samsung’s Unpacked Event.
A smart ring would also be a competitor to Oura and Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Ring, which is expected to launch later this year and will record health data. The company introduced the ring in a splashy video presentation last month, but there’s still little information about what it can do.
Read the original article in English here.