Like Apple Watch at start, Apple's smart glasses plan will challenge the entire industry

News Like Apple Watch at start, Apple's smart glasses plan will challenge the entire industry Malcolm Owen 19 e-mail BlueSky Mastodon X Facebook Reddit Sun May 31 2026, 10:51 AM EDT · 2 minute read Apple is gunning for the glasses industry with its smart eyewear - Image Credit: Pexels/Gustavo Fring Rumor Score   🤔 Possible Apple's initial plan for smart glasses is to take on just about every eyewear manufacturer, smart and not, with design and just a little bit of iPhone integration. The whole Apple Glass endeavor has focused mainly on the still-far-off augmented reality smart glasses . However, with a second version without AR expected to arrive in 2026 or 2027, Apple is trying to break into the wider glasses market. According to Mark Gurman in Sunday's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg , Apple isn't going to try and attract just those who want smart glasses. It's instead attempting to take on the overall glasses market. This involves competing against glasses made by EssilorLuxottica SA, which produces Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, and other fashion glasses. There's also Safilo Group who make Tommy Holfiger and Hugo Boss glasses, and Warby Parker. Apple's smart glasses should connect to iPhones The field in Apple's sights is the $200 to $500 segment, making it a mainstream play. However, there's no guarantee that Apple will stick to that price range. It's a lucrative market to enter, too, with the eyewear market valued at around $200 billion per year, with hundreds of millions of spectacles sold annually. To compete, Gurman was told that Apple will sell based on its strong brand, as well as its design pedigree. An integration with the iPhone will also be a big feature, which the company feels will drive sales from people replacing their glasses. Echoes of Apple Watch The approach may be familiar to those who watched the initial launch of the Apple Watch . Like glasses, the Apple Watch was entering a brand new field, and was aiming to take a chunk ou