2 weeks ago
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Apple is reportedly looking for a change in its mixed reality strategy. New reports from trusted Apple analysts suggest that the company may be moving away from a cheaper Vision Pro headset and is looking more toward a pair of smart glasses. It’s still early, and Apple may end up with something between Meta’s $300 Ray-Ban glasses and the fabled prototype Meta Orion. I’m still begging for some company to craft a pair of glasses that feels comfortable to wear.
We’ve heard rumblings of Apple’s smart glasses ambitions. Late on Monday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple conducted an internal survey for an initiative called Atlas. Gurman’s anonymous sources claim the Cupertino tech giant is asking its staff about smart glasses. According to the letter cited by Bloomberg, the company is looking for staff to share their thoughts on an “upcoming user study with current market smart glasses. “
It’s interesting timing, as Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote on his Twitter page Sunday that Apple was delaying its plans for a cheaper Apple Vision Pro “beyond 2027.” Instead, the best we could hope for on the AVP front is a new Pro model in 2025 with an M5 processor. The current model uses the M2, and it’s already plenty powerful for most things you can do with it. The current Vision Pro costs $3,500, and Apple CEO Tim Cook has outright said it’s the kind of device that will have a limited market.
So, which companies actually have smart glasses? Right now, the field is small. There’s XReal, the makers of the Air 2 Ultra and accompanying Beam Pro. There are also wilder concepts like the Spacetop G1, which is essentially a laptop with attached AR glasses made by Sightful. And, of course, there’s Meta. While Orion is still an expensive, early prototype that only a select few have used outside Meta. We’ve had our hands-on with the Ray-Ban Meta. They’re good enough for photo-taking and phone calls, but I would definitely not call them the next big thing in AI wearables in their current state.
Meta was reportedly initially surprised by how well the Ray-Ban Meta glasses sold. Part of that success is, inevitably, due to brand recognition. Even with their elongated frame to make room for the twin sensors, the glasses look like they would fit on any beach bro’s tanned face. After big tech suitors thought to entice the glasses maker, Meta seems like it cinched its deal with EssilorLuxottica, the owners of the Ray-Ban brand. The company released updated glasses this year with transition lenses.
Still, even the limited added weight of the Ray-Bans makes them less comfortable than a regular pair of sunglasses. Any more, and it starts to wear on the bridge of users’ noses. However, if any company can emphasize form, even to the detriment of function, it’s Apple. The Vision Pro is a good example of that. Its metal frame and obtuse external display make it a heavier headset than Apple’s contemporaries like the Meta Quest 3 and 3S.
A pair of true AR glasses is the real bell of the ball for any tech company. Meta and Apple dream about a wearable computer that lets you see and even project content directly in front of your eyes. Meanwhile, I’m desperate for a company to make something I actually want to wear all the time. Apple has been very conscious of this fact in the past, but despite Silicon Valley’s obsession with packing as many features as possible inside a single doohickey, sometimes less is more.
