US based tech giant Apple is gearing up for launch of its highly awaited smart glasses by the end of 2027, with the brand hoping that its new product category can follow the similar playbook that it used for the Apple Watch years ago. The company initially planned the launch of smart glasses, codenamed N50, at the end of 2026, but there have been delays to the project and the new report indicates that they could ship by early 2027.
Apple to Repeat Old Strategy for New Product Category
As per reports, the company is looking for a similar opportunity in the eyewear segment to the one it once saw in the watch category when it launched the first Apple Watch in 2015. In 2015, smartwatch was still a niche category dominated by brands such as Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Pebble.
During the launch of the first Apple Watch, the company was not just aiming to capture the smartwatch market. It also wanted to take on the entire wristwatch industry by convincing customers to replace their traditional watches with a new accessory that paired with their iPhone, tracked their health metrics, and still told the time like an ordinary watch.
The Apple Watch strategy worked so well for the company and Apple turned out to become the world’s largest watchmaker in terms of unit volume whereas the revenues for many traditional watch manufacturers such as Swatch and Fossil dropped significantly between 2014 and 2025.
Apple is now planning to apply a similar strategy as it looks to take on the broader eyewear market which is not just limited to smart glass segments which is currently ruled by Meta.
Smart Glasses To Become As Big As iPhones
Bloomberg’s Gurman notes that the eyewear market represents an even larger opportunity for the company, with the global eyewear industry estimated to be around $200 billion annually. As per the World Health Organisation around 2.2 billion people worldwide have some form of vision impairment while millions of pairs of glasses are sold every year.
This indicates that Apple’s new category could potentially become as large as the smartphone business, with billions of potentials customers opportunities if everything went as per the company’s plan.
According to internal reports, the company believes that it has several key advantages that could help it succeed in the eyewear category. Apple could use its strong brand value, industrial design expertise, trust, and tight integration with the iPhone to persuade consumers to shop for regular prescription glasses to choose Apple-branded eyewear instead.
The company’s existing ecosystem, retail network, and future AI-powered features that can help users better interact with the world around them are also expected to play a key role in the company’s strategy.
Apple Smart Glasses Price
The company is planning to launch the upcoming smart glasses between a price range of $200 and $500 which is roughly Rs 19,000 to Rs 47,000 positioning them against the Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Safilo, and Warby Parker. This approach of the company portrays a similar strategy it used during the launch of Apple Watch in 2015, where Apple focused on the mass-market watch segment rather than ultra-luxury segment.
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Syed Ziyauddin is a media and international relations enthusiast with a strong academic and professional foundation. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media from Jamia Millia Islamia and a Master’s in International Relations (West Asia) from the same institution.
He has work with organizations like ANN Media, TV9 Bharatvarsh, NDTV and Centre for Discourse, Fusion, and Analysis (CDFA) his core interest includes Tech, Auto and global affairs.
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