Meta's AI Push: Can It Challenge Apple's Dominance?
Meta Platforms is making significant investments in AI hardware, aiming to lead the consumer AI market. At its recent Meta Connect 2026 event, the company unveiled new glasses and the Muse Charm, a handheld AI agent device.
The goal of these devices is to enable seamless usage of Meta's popular Muse AI agent, which has seen significant adoption since its release on September 8. In its first 12 days of public availability, Muse AI downloads for iOS exceeded ChatGPT downloads in the U.S. and Canada.
Meta's push into hardware comes after years of trying to create a new computing platform to reduce its dependence on Apple and Alphabet. However, this pivot towards the metaverse was a massive financial and strategic failure.
Despite Meta's efforts, consumer behavior is slow to change, and it will be difficult for the company to topple Apple's dominant position in the market. With over 2.5 billion active devices worldwide, iPhones account for more than half of them, making it a daunting task for Meta to overthrow.