Apple's AI Pin Might Actually Be Worth Wearing (No, Hear Me Out)

The world of consumer electronics has changed a lot over the past couple of years, and whether you like it or not, AI has become the driving agent. OpenAI kicked off an AI storm with ChatGPT, and Google has broadly deployed AI with Gemini across all its products. The outlier Anthropic has become a favorite among software workers. Amazon is trying to get in on the action with Alexa+, and amid all of this, Microsoft's attempts with Copilot have backfired into a "microslop" backlash. Somewhere along the way, AI gadgets landed and mostly flopped.

The biggest absence in the industry has been Apple, but that could change soon. A new rumor claims the company may launch its own AI-powered, AirTag-sized device in 2027. On the surface, that sounds like a recipe for failure. The Rabbit R1 AI gadget was widely ridiculed not too long ago. Friend, a necklace-style AI wearable, attracted plenty of public hate. Then there's the disaster that was the Humane AI Pin, which was actually the brainchild of two well-known former Apple employees. So, what are the chances that Apple can make a camera-equipped AI wearable successful, especially when its AI efforts with Siri have been a competitive failure?

Apple's AI progress has been slow enough that it had to tap ChatGPT for Apple Intelligence, and now it's moving to Google's Gemini foundations to bolster Siri for the generative AI era. Despite that, the company seems fairly confident about the rumored upcoming device, assuming the leak is accurate. Apple has reportedly set its launch production figure at 20 million units, as per The Information, which goes on to claim, "Apple's pin, which is a thin, flat, circular disc with an aluminum-and-glass shell, features two cameras — a standard lens and a wide-angle lens — on its front face, designed to capture photos and videos of the user's surroundings."

There are a few reasons why I'm confident about Apple's AI wearable gamble. The Information's report doesn't dig into the specifics of the device, but the hardware description offers a glimpse of its supposed utility: "It also includes three microphones to pick up sounds in the area surrounding the person wearing it. It has a speaker, a physical button along one of its edges, and a magnetic inductive charging interface on its back."

With AI gadgets and wearables, the greatest challenge is making them blend in. Apple's engineering team is reportedly trying to make the device the same size as an AirTag, though it will be slightly thicker if the report proves accurate. If the team does manage to shrink the device to such a small footprint — despite packing two world-facing cameras — it could be a huge draw for anyone eager to try an AI companion device. Every AI device that I have used so far has been fairly easy to spot as a discrete gadget, thanks in no small part to the size. If Apple can manage an AirTag-sized alternative, it would be a major win.

Another reason I am confident about Apple's chances of success is the timing. Siri has been an obvious laggard, not just in terms of computing chops, but also due to its limited conversational capabilities. Moreover, getting Siri to handle tasks, especially in another app, is currently a daydream, while ChatGPT and Gemini can do it pretty well. With App Intents, Apple has the foundations ready for AI to handle in-app tasks. Combined with Gemini's reasoning and comprehension skills, it's now only a matter of time before natural language voice commands on an Apple device can actually be used to get work done.

An AI-powered Apple wearable could potentially be utilized in many ways, and there's plenty of practical precedent for that. For example, the wearable could be pushed as a personalized note-taking device that offers AI-driven transcription, summarization, and format conversion tricks. That's something I already use Plaud Note for extensively (in both the card and bracelet form factors). In Apple's case, the device might even work by simply offloading the transcription and format conversion chores to the connected iPhone or Mac using one of the on-device foundation models. 

Apple is making wearable AI devices... This little gadget is quite interesting. I wonder if it will be like a smartwatch, based on a smartphone.......@Apple pic.twitter.com/Gtonq28rnO

— Y-Zone 🎨（IFB/互） (@yangzhuoart) January 23, 2026

Then there's the rumored multimodal side of the device. The onboard cameras said to be featured on Apple's AI wearable could help make sense of the world around users via visual intelligence. This impressive capability, where an AI can talk about the world around someone as seen through a camera, can be made available offline, as demonstrated by apps such as HuggingSnap, which relies on an open-source AI model.

Another opportunity would involve health and wellness. Apple commands a massive health ecosystem with deep interplay between wearables and services. The company is already said to be exploring earbuds with an onboard camera, and that product could tie into wellness-related applications, such as fall detection and workout assistance. Apple has arguably the deepest health ecosystem built atop wearables, and a multi-sensor AI device could open new avenues for wellness-focused features. For example, a built-in accelerometer could be used to track body motion for detecting sleep issues, just like an Apple Watch monitors for signs of sleep apnea.