Apple’s getting serious about smart glasses

TechVRApple’s getting serious about smart glassesAsks employees to take part in a study of other firms' smart specsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Asks employees to take part in a study of other firms' smart specs

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images)

Apple Vision Pro

(Image credit: Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images)

Quick SummaryWhile Apple’s current VR focus is on Vision Pro, smart glasses are a long-term goal.A new internal study will analyse existing smart glasses from rival firms to explore opportunities for Apple.

While Apple’s current VR focus is on Vision Pro, smart glasses are a long-term goal.A new internal study will analyse existing smart glasses from rival firms to explore opportunities for Apple.

While Apple’s current VR focus is on Vision Pro, smart glasses are a long-term goal.

A new internal study will analyse existing smart glasses from rival firms to explore opportunities for Apple.

WithApplereportedly planninga major Vision Pro upgradein 2025 and a more affordable model two or three years later, it’s clear that headsets loom large in Apple’s vision.

However, the longer term goal is to have smart glasses rather than hefty head-mounted hardware, and a new report says Apple is getting very serious about specs.

Bloombergclaims that Apple has launched an internal study of smart glasses products from the likes of Meta. The study, announced to employees over email, comes from Apple’s Product Systems Quality team and is asking for participants for “an upcoming user study with current market smart glasses”. In other words, a focus group, which is rather fitting.

What’s Apple studying about smart glasses?

And studying other firms' products in great detail is part of that process – what works? What doesn’t? What could be done better if you had Apple’s engineering talent and software integration?

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, any Apple smart glasses are still several years away – if indeed Apple decides to make them at all. But the consensus in the industry is that smart glasses are the future of mixed and augmented reality.

As fun as a Vision Pro or a Meta Quest 3S is, they’re not exactly practical for everyday wear.

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If our future is spectacle-shaped, that means Apple is likely to compete not just on hardware and software, but on something bigger: privacy.

FromGoogleGlass toMeta’s Orion ARglasses, the idea that everyone around us is watching through their wearables is potentially scary – and as we’ve seen with Apple Intelligence and Apple products more widely, Apple sees privacy protection as a key selling point of its products.

I’m sure its focus group will be, er, focusing on that too.

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