New reporting from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman adds further detail on how deep Apple's privacy concerns run over its delayed smart glasses, revealing that the company is even weighing versions of the device without a camera at all, or with a camera system that cannot actually take photos or video. Teams within Apple's Vision hardware group reportedly regard privacy as their top priority for the product, reflecting the sensitivity of camera-equipped wearables and Apple's broader brand promise around data protection. This underlines the trade-off Apple is navigating between moving fast into a booming product category and holding to the privacy standards it has built its reputation on.

Alongside the stripped-back hardware options, Apple is said to be building new software safeguards not present in its existing products, including a Meta-style feature that disables recording if the indicator light appears to have been tampered with. The glasses had originally been expected to launch this year, but the timeline has slipped, with Gurman now reporting an unveiling at WWDC in 2027 and a release by the end of that year. Apple's cautious approach comes as rival Meta faces its own privacy scrutiny, having recently been named in a class action lawsuit over its AI glasses.