Apple could develop a fitness ring that gathers vital health data, as well as smart glasses and AirPods equipped with cameras and more sensors.
An Apple ring is just an idea at this point | Image: Carles Rabada/Unsplash
In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman reported that Apple has considered the above gadgets to boost sales that stagnated in 2023 without cannibalizing existing products.
The fitness ring would track key health metrics and appeal to people who wear traditional wristwatches and those who, for various reasons, don’t like Apple Watch—maybe because it’s too pricey or they don’t need all the features or don’t want another device that needs nightly charging.
The smart glasses could serve as an AirPods replacement by integrating speakers and cameras that would identify things in the user’s environment.
To those who don’t want to wear spectacles on their nose, Apple could offer AirPods with cameras and health sensors that would give them many of the benefits of smart glasses without needing lenses and frames.
An Apple ring could gather key health data
Smart glasses as an AirPods replacement
even if they’re not imminent
“Just as a ring would be cheaper than an Apple Watch, these glasses would be less expensive than Apple’s headset—even if the company brings down the cost of its $3,500 Vision Pro,” Gurman argued. “The glasses could still include cameras, speakers and health sensors, but make a head-worn product more appealing to mainstream consumers.”
This project has moved from the conceptual into an exploratory phase known as “technology investigation” within the hardware engineering division.
AirPods with cameras
with integrated health sensorsconsidered health-tracking AirPods in 2018
Overall sales dropped in 2023
Apple’s sales decreased across almost all product segments in 2023, and new lower-cost wearable products could help revert that trend. However, Apple hasn’t decided yet because “none of these products may ever see the light of day.”