For the longest time, we’ve heard rumors about Apple developing some form of AR smart glasses. Nothing has come to light of that, though we do now have Apple Vision Pro, which has a number of similarities with potential AR glasses, albeit in a much bulkier form factor.
However, despite companies like Meta and Snapchat showing off cool demos of augmented reality glasses, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg reports that Apple is around 3-5 years away from “getting the approach right.”
While Apple continues to work on its own pair of AR glasses, a release isn’t near, according to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter:
I’m told that Apple continues to work on smart glasses with augmented reality, but that nothing is coming in the near future.
There’s a lot that Apple would need to get right for such a product to work. They’d need to miniaturize a number of compute components, create a fashionable design, provide battery life that’d make the product actually useful, and develop high resolution displays that don’t compromise too much on the media experience.
Apple likely can develop all of those things on a wildly expensive pair of glasses, but probably not on something consumer friendly. Companies like Snapchat and Meta have unveiled pairs of AR glasses, but they aren’t consumer products. Meta’s pair is just a prototype demo, whereas Snapchat’s pair is only available to developers through a $99/month Snapchat Spectacles developer program.
I personally had the opportunity to try out Snapchat’s augmented reality glasses last month – and they were certainly impressive. It had a few flaws, like the field-of-view, but it was still an impressive demo. Though, I’m sure the form factor is a bit too bulky for Apple’s liking.
It makes sense that Apple isn’t ready to release a pair of AR glasses, but that doesn’t stop it from being disappointing.
Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
