3 min readNew DelhiFeb 23, 2026 04:17 PM IST In an effort to gain a competitive edge in the AI race, Apple is reportedly eyeing a new category of wearable AI devices focused on visual intelligence.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has dropped several hints at internal meetings about developing AI wearables built around Visual Intelligence, which the company considers to be a type of technology that can see the surrounding environment and use that context to take action, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
First made available on the iPhone 16 Pro in 2024, Apple has been rolling out features that offer Visual Intelligence such as letting users take a photo or screenshot and then ask questions about the content via OpenAI’s ChatGPT and reverse image search through Google.
But now, Apple is reportedly working on visual AI models that will power its new AI wearables. “One of our most popular features is Visual Intelligence, which helps users learn and do more than ever with the content on their iPhone screen, making it faster to search, take action and answer questions across their apps,” Cook was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
Unlike Google, OpenAI, or Anthropic, Apple is currently not in the race to build the largest models or massive data centres. Instead, it is looking to position itself as a one-stop shop for distributing AI through its devices, making the best AI models available to more than a billion consumers. This could also be a potential reason why Apple skipped the global AI Impact Summit 2026 held in New Delhi last week, where several major tech CEOs such as Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, and Dario Amodei were in attendance.
Besides Visual Intelligence, Gurman’s latest edition of the Power On newsletter reveals that Apple might be taking a different approach to unveiling its products this year. Instead of announcing everything at a single keynote, the Cupertino-based tech giant is reportedly planning a three-day announcement blitz followed by a final event on March 4, 2026, where tech journalists will be offered to get hands-on with the upcoming products.
Apple is likely to announce at least five new products in March this year, including the iPhone 17e, an iPad Air with an M4 chip, a new entry-level iPad, and an upgraded MacBook Air and new MacBook Pro models.
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