Smart Glasses Are the One Privacy Nightmare Apple Can’t Solve

Even if Apple is one of the only major consumer tech companies without a pair of smart glasses officially in the pipeline, there are strong signs pointing to a future where its face-worn computer exists. The biggest sign is reporting from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who recently detailed a behind-the-scenes debate on what exactly Apple will offer the world of smart glasses. Unsurprisingly, that internal discussion is around the biggest hot-button issue: privacy. Specifically, Gurman’s reporting suggests that Apple is working to address the camera on smart glasses, which is arguably the most fraught feature on any pair. Unlike Meta and its AI glasses, Apple seems to be intent on ensuring the camera on its smart glasses doesn’t wind up earning the company a reputation as a tool for spying or otherwise encroaching on user privacy. To do that, it’s reportedly considering a couple of non-Meta approaches to hardware. In one iteration, Apple is reportedly prototyping camera-less glasses that would avoid the privacy pitfalls of most smart glasses entirely. This would position Apple’s offering as something closer to smart glasses made by companies like Even Realities, which focus more on AI fe