A look at Apple's new home strategy and plans for a ~$2K headset in 2025, Vision Pro 2 in 2026, and Ray-Ban Meta-like glasses and AirPods with cameras in 2027
Apple is finally preparing to compete for the smart home market after falling behind Amazon and Google.
BloombergMark Gurman
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's reported roadmap follows earlier indications that the company was weighing moving headset compute to the iPhone while developing homeOS, suggesting its home and wearable efforts are being considered as connected parts of a broader device strategy rather than isolated products.
The roughly $2,000 entry point also echoes a longstanding expectation of a premium Apple headset. The later product sequence matters because it maps Apple’s attempt to extend from a high-end spatial device into home hardware and more everyday wearables as it tries to catch Amazon and Google in the home.
First-order effects
Apple would need to spread product, software, and ecosystem investment across smart-home hardware, a lower-priced headset, a Vision Pro successor, camera-equipped AirPods, and smart glasses rather than relying on one spatial-computing product.
Amazon and Google gain a clearly identified future challenger in the smart home, while Ray-Ban Meta becomes the closest named reference point for Apple’s planned glasses category.
Second-order effects
A lower-priced headset and potential iPhone-linked designs would make the iPhone more central to Apple’s wearable roadmap, raising the value of interoperability across its home, audio, and spatial products.
The glasses timetable is a key execution constraint: later coverage reported an iPhone-connected glasses delay to late 2027, illustrating how easily a planned response to Ray-Ban Meta can shift even when the broader category strategy remains intact.
Third-order effects
If Apple can connect home devices, audio wearables, glasses, and headsets through a common software and device ecosystem, competition may increasingly turn on cross-device distribution rather than any single hardware category.
The roadmap points to a longer transition from standalone premium headsets toward a portfolio of devices with different prices and usage frequency; whether that transition materializes depends on execution of the lower-cost and glasses products.
The trend: Consumer-device companies are broadening from single-category hardware bets into connected home, spatial, and wearable portfolios built around existing device ecosystems.
I am continually surprised at how much Mark Gurman has pierced fhe veil of secrecy at Apple. This is a company that famously values secrecy so much that the original iOS team didn't see the iPhone hardware until just before launch. …
I think traditional glasses designs are the ultimate form-factor for AR/VR , but it's the one area where I think Apple will face real difficulty. What people wear on their faces is highly personal. And Meta's partnership with Luxottica more or less gives Meta a monopoly on eyeg…
@9to5mac @mbrkhrdt While a $1500 decrease in price is significant, It's still far too expensive for most consumers. This is a failure on Apple for not understanding their consumer.
A bit negative on Apple Home strategy which I think is deeper and better executed. Home Key is a life changing feature and still can do more. Siri remains a weak link—I can ask google tv to play a show on YouTube tv and increase the volume/mute, but in Apple TV (TV+) is so hit/…
@9to5mac @mbrkhrdt Doesn't matter what it cost if there's no content for it. Apple needs to really push out a ton of 180° video as well as lots of games or there's not really a reason to use it in my opinion.
Hmmm glasses with built-in AirPods... Not AR lenses like Meta's Orion but more like Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses... I could see that. Especially if you slap AirPods branding on them. AirPods earbuds with cameras... don't see that happening. Cameras would be too small and would b…
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