Apple announced earlier this year that it was ramping up its efforts to develop augmented reality (AR) glasses, but those glasses weren’t expected to hit the market until 2027 at the earliest. Now, according to a reliable source, Apple is considering working on a less ambitious smart pair of glasses.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in the Power On newsletter that Apple is considering the possibility of developing a non-AR smart glasses. “This category has been very successful for Meta in recent quarters, so Apple may want to try to get into this space as well,” Gurman added.
Although many companies currently produce smart glasses, the $299 Meta Ray-Ban glasses stand out as the most striking product in this field. These glasses have a camera that can take photos, shoot videos and live broadcasts, built-in speakers, an AI-powered chatbot, play music and make phone calls. However, this Meta product does not offer AR capabilities; it does not have features such as head-tracking sensors or an integrated display.
Removing AR features like head-tracking sensors and an integrated display means lower manufacturing costs and a simpler pair of smart glasses. This could allow Apple to release smart glasses without AR hardware more quickly and at a more affordable price. The glasses without AR are also expected to be lighter and have a longer battery life.
Apple is not the only company considering smart glasses
It is also observed that this segment is becoming increasingly competitive. Qualcomm CEO confirmed last week that Samsung’s XR project is a smart glasses. Samsung’s product will work with Google software, which means that more manufacturers will produce smart glasses using this platform in the future.