2024 marks the 75th anniversary of Swarovski Optik and the company is starting the year with a world first. The new Swarovski Optik AX Visio binoculars come equipped with a wildlife-focused artificial intelligence system that can tell you exactly what you’re looking at.
Developed in collaboration with Marc Newson, the AX Visio has taken five years to develop, involving the integration of 390 hardware parts, including Swarovski’s precision 10x32 optic systems (10x magnification and an objective lens diameter of 32mm). This is spliced with in-lens system capable of identifying over 9,000 birds as well as a host of other creatures.
Swarovski Optik AX Visio binoculars with inbuilt camera
Marc Newson with the Swarovski Optik AX Visio binoculars
The binoculars have an in-built camera for taking images and videos, as well as a dedicated app for sharing these to your smartphone. You can even tag the location of a bird and guide another AX Visio user to the precise spot via arrows that are overlaid on the display.
Binoculars represent the most ergonomic product you can imagine, a form factor that has to accommodate a huge variety of user shapes and sizes. Newson shaped the AX Visio’s housing, and his signature approach to product design is very much in evidence.
Cleanly styled, with a form that accommodates and conceals the inner workings in favour of a smooth, precisely rendered functionalism, AX Visio is the second product created by the designer for the Austrian company, following on from the pocket-sized CL Curio from 2021.
Stefan Schwarz, Swarovski Optik’s CEO, describes the project as the culmination of the company’s ‘deep understanding of our consumers’ requirements in the birdwatching, and outdoor target groups… The AX Visio is not only a flagship project with which we are demonstrating Swarovski Optik’s technological leadership in the sport optics market, but it also marks the beginning of a new technological era for us.’
Marc Newson with the new AX Visio binoculars by Swarovski Optik
Swarovski Optik AX Visio, £3,820, SwarovskiOptic.com
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