Apple's new wearable device: "Innovative" concerns about the smart pendant and glasses?

According to MacRumors, a foreign media outlet, Apple is currently secretly advancing the development of two new wearable devices: one is a smart pendant similar in size to AirTag, and the other is smart glasses. Both products have been given a function positioning that is deeply linked to the iPhone. However, when examining their technical architecture and product logic, it is not difficult to discover multiple technical controversies and potential risks.

From the design of the smart pendant, its core functions are highly dependent on the computing power of the iPhone. The device is equipped with only a resident camera, microphone, and basic chips, without a screen or laser projection module, and even the inclusion of a speaker is still under consideration. Essentially, this design positions the pendant as an "external sensor" of the iPhone rather than an independent smart device. However, this technical path has significant risks: first, the real-time and stability of data transmission cannot be guaranteed. If the user is far from the iPhone or in a signal interference environment, the voice interaction, image capture, and other functions of the pendant will fail due to the interruption of the computing power relay; second, privacy protection faces challenges. The continuous operation of the resident camera and microphone requires a strict local encryption mechanism, but Apple has not disclosed the specific technical solution, and the risk of data leakage cannot be ignored; third, the redundancy of functions is questionable. Currently, iPhone already has features such as Siri voice interaction and remote shooting, and the incremental value of the pendant lies only in the convenience of the wearing method. The substantive breakthrough of technological innovation is limited.

The logic of computing power allocation in this device has technical contradictions. Apple chooses to transfer complex computations to the iPhone, although it can reduce the power consumption and cost of the pendant, it places higher requirements on the hardware performance of the iPhone. If users simultaneously use multiple external devices (such as Apple Watch, AirPods, etc.), the processor load of the iPhone will significantly increase, potentially causing system lag or shortened battery life. Moreover, this design goes against the development trend of wearable devices being "lightweight" and "independent". Compared with similar products, Humane AI Pin still adopts an un-screened design, but it realizes information interaction through laser projection, having more technical forward-looking features in terms of function completeness; while Apple's pendant's "subtraction design" is more like a compromise for cost reduction, which is difficult to meet the growing diverse needs of users for smart wearable devices.

Let's look at the development progress of the smart glasses. Apple plans to equip them with cameras, speakers, and microphones, supporting functions such as taking photos and videos, music calls, and intelligent voice announcements, and emphasizing that the lens data can be synchronized for optimizing scenarios such as walking navigation. However, this technical solution also faces multiple challenges: first, the control of power consumption for multi-sensor fusion is extremely difficult. The continuous operation of the camera will significantly increase the device's heat generation, and as glasses are worn close to the body, the requirements for heat dissipation design are much higher than those of phones or watches. If this problem cannot be effectively solved, the product may experience performance degradation or user discomfort due to overheating; second, the delay problem of data synchronization urgently needs to be addressed. The lens data needs to be transmitted in real time to the iPhone or the cloud for processing and then broadcast back to the glasses end, if there is a millisecond-level delay, it will directly affect the accuracy of navigation instructions and even potentially cause safety hazards; finally, the privacy protection mechanism is not yet complete. The camera of the smart glasses may involve public place shooting, how to use technical means (such as physical shielding switches, local storage, etc.) to avoid abuse is an ethical issue that Apple must face.

From the perspective of industry technological trends, neither of these two products from Apple has demonstrated breakthrough innovation. The design of the smart pendant relying on the computing power of the iPhone is similar to the early smart bands that achieved functions through mobile phone apps; The combination of functions of smart glasses has not exceeded the technical scope of competitors such as Meta Ray-Ban. Against the backdrop of rapid iterative development of AI large models and AR technology, if Apple merely focuses on "function assembly" rather than "underlying technological breakthroughs", it is unlikely to establish a long-term competitive advantage in the wearable device field.

The essence of technological innovation is to solve user pain points, rather than creating new problems. Although these two new products from Apple have made some attempts in form, their technical architecture limitations, completeness of function realization, and security of privacy protection all have significant room for improvement.