Apple Inc. once turned a category filled with fitness trackers and digital watches into a cultural force. Now the company applies a similar playbook to prescription frames and sunglasses. But this time artificial intelligence sits at the center. The approach echoes the 2015 debut of the Apple Watch. Back then competitors ranged from Pebble to Fossil. Today the eyewear field pits Meta Platforms Inc.’s Ray-Ban smart glasses against traditional names such as Warby Parker and Ray-Ban itself. The global eyewear market dwarfs watches. Estimates place it between $180 billion and $200 billion. Success here could dwarf the $17 billion annual revenue the Watch eventually generated. The Verge captured the parallel perfectly. Apple avoids luxury labels like Cartier. It targets mainstream buyers who replace glasses every couple of years. Strong brand recognition, precise industrial design and tight iPhone integration should convert many of them. So should AI tools that interpret the world around the wearer.…