Apple could look to invest in new wearable technology, including a smart ring, glasses, and more.
That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman's latest Power On newsletter, which says that the company could reach new customers via fresh wearables.
Gurman's report suggests that a smart ring was looked into a few years ago, while recent discussions have centred around smart glasses that would act similarly to rivals from Meta while also offering built-in audio so AirPods are optional.
The ring, Gurman says, isn't in active development but has fans within Apple's campus. It'd be focused on health tracking, something already offered by the Oura Ring and other manufacturers. The key here would be offering some Apple Watch features but without notification support and, presumably, the watchOS App Store, at a lower price point that would help entice users into the oft-touted Apple ecosystem.
Gurman says the glasses are "likely still several years away" but that they are in a phase within Apple known as "technology investigation". According to the report, Apple could approach the market using AR glasses as a sort of AirPods replacement, and priced lower than the Vision Pro.
The aim would be to integrate "beefier batteries, more sensors and broader AI capabilities", Gurman says, helping power augmented reality features.
Gurman says AirPods could also see sizeable upgrades with built-in cameras, AI, and health sensors being considered for the popular product line. They could never see the light of day, but the report says that an investigation to add low-resolution cameras into small earbuds began last year.
How successful are Apple's wearables?
As noted by Gurman, wearable devices (the AirPods and Apple Watch) represent 10% of Apple's revenue these days - more than double the figure from a decade ago.
While meaningful upgrades have somewhat stalled on both counts (although we expect new AirPods Max and fourth-generation base AirPods this year), they clearly remain popular ahead of the rumored Apple Watch X.
If Apple can bring in new customers with trackers priced lower than the Apple Watch SE, it could be a great way to demonstrate the Apple ecosystem to newcomers without feasibly "stealing sales" from existing products, as Gurman puts it.
