Apple's Smart Glasses Launch Delayed Amid Rising Privacy Concerns Over Cameras

Apple is expected to enter the smart glasses market later than planned, with its product launch schedule reportedly delayed.

Bloomberg reported that Apple plans to unveil its first-ever smart glasses at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June next year.

The smart glasses are scheduled to go on sale to the general public by the end of next year.

Initially, Apple had planned to introduce the smart glasses by the end of this year and release them early next year, but the schedule was pushed back due to growing concerns over privacy infringement.

Following the release of Meta's smart glasses, an increasing number of people have voiced anxiety that they might be secretly recorded in public spaces such as restaurants and workplaces.

In fact, courts in New York and Pennsylvania have decided to ban bringing smart glasses into courthouses, while schools, gyms, and hospitals are also taking voluntary measures to ban their use to protect privacy.

In response, Apple even considered developing smart glasses that feature a camera system but do not permit taking photos or recording videos.

In this scenario, the cameras would be used exclusively to capture the user's surroundings and feed that data to AI to identify objects or locations.

Furthermore, Apple reportedly discussed smart glasses without a camera altogether, and even went as far as building prototypes of a camera-free version.

However, Bloomberg pointed out that since critics argued such a product would diminish the core advantages of smart glasses, the likelihood of Apple releasing a camera-free device appears low.

Smart glasses have recently become one of the most closely watched markets by major tech companies, with big tech firms entering the fray one after another, including industry leader Meta, as well as Google—which is partnering with Samsung for a launch in the second half of this year—and Snap.

Despite the hurdle of privacy controversies, major IT companies are joining the race, and competition to seize market dominance is expected to intensify further.

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Graphics by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.