Optimistic renders of what Apple Glass could look like – Image Credit: AppleInsider
The fabled Apple Glass continues to be in development, with augmented reality glasses still a top priority for CEO Tim Cook to produce.
Headset initiatives like the Apple Vision Pro are a gradual step towards smaller, lighter smart glasses that provide augmented reality experiences to the user. This future concept is rumored to be in development at Apple, under the name of Apple Glass.
While the Apple Vision Pro has had a relatively shaky start, CEO Tim Cook is still very much interested in producing Apple Glass. He’s wanted the product to be created for over a decade.
In Sunday’s newsletter for Bloomberg, sources of Mark Gurman say that Cook is doing what he can to get the smart glasses made. “Tim cares about noting else,” one source claimed. “It’s the only thing he’s really spending his time on from a product development standpoint.”
It’s become a top priority for Apple’s engineers, all to try and outpace Meta in creating a category-leading device. Meta already leads in terms of headsets, but it’s also taken first blood when it comes to smart glasses as well.
Meta already has a hit with its RayBan smart glasses, which are used for taking pictures and for AI purposes, but it’s not the kind of smart glasses that Cook is keen on making. That would involve making something that can display AR images to the user, much like the Apple Vision Pro but in a much slimmer form.
Achieving a product like Apple Glass is an engineering nightmare for any company, let alone Apple, to produce. You’re effectively trying to make a heads-up display that doesn’t have the bulk of a headset, while still retaining the processing and audio capabilities.
Doing so requires some considerable miniaturization, careful designing, and offloading of elements to a host device if necessary. For example, using a nearby iPhone to handling processing and rendering duties to save from adding the weighty components and a hefty battery to the supposedly light headwear.
It is certainly a pet project for Cook that could give Apple a considerable lead in wearable electronics. That is, if it can pull the feat of engineering off before Meta does it.
