According to a report, Apple is considering developing smart glasses that have little in common with the expensive and heavy Vision Pro mixed reality glasses. It is said to focus on augmented reality and is more similar to the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, which look like normal horn-rimmed glasses.
The Apple Vision Pro is a fascinating piece of technology, but as VR glasses that display the real world via cameras, it is not only very heavy but also extremely expensive. According to various reports, it hasn't been a big seller yet. According to “Bloomberg”, Apple may therefore be considering launching glasses similar to the smart glasses developed by Meta and Ray-Ban.
According to the report, Apple sent emails to selected employees as part of the Atlas project. “Testing and developing products that everyone can love is very important to our work at Apple,” author Mark Gurman quotes from the message. “That's why we're looking for participants for an upcoming user study with commercially available smart glasses.” According to “Appleinsider”, Apple took a similar approach before starting development of the Vision Pro.
Others are already further along
The glasses sold by Meta and Ray-Ban are only partially a real model. So far, the device in conjunction with a smartphone has only been able to take photos and videos, listen to music, make phone calls or do live streams on Facebook and Instagram. Augmented reality, in which digital information is projected in front of users' eyes, is still missing. But this will probably be an essential feature of “Apple Glasses”.
ntv.de saw how this could work at the Meizu stand at the IFA in September. For example, you can use the MYVU to navigate on a bicycle by displaying directional instructions on transparent projection surfaces integrated into the lenses of the glasses. You can also use the Meizu Glasses as a teleprompter, for notifications or for real-time translations. Speakers in the temples expand the possibilities.
“Orion” before “Atlas”?
Mark Zuckerberg recently introduced similar glasses. So far, the “Orion” project is only a very early prototype. The meta boss also decided not to do a live demo, but instead showed a video with the planned functions. It may still be years before there is a market-ready product – if it comes at all. Among other things, production would currently cost the equivalent of around 9,000 euros, reports “Business Insider”, whose author Peter Kafka was able to try out the prototype. The goal is a price under 900 euros.
According to the report, Apple is also still years away from selling smart glasses. The Vision Pro is set to continue very soon. According to Appleinsider, a model with a completely new chip is expected next year. A planned cheaper variant of the mixed reality glasses, however, is said to have been postponed to 2027.
