The wearables space has so far been largely dominated by wrist-worn gadgets like smartwatches and fitness trackers, but there have been some different products, like Google’s Glass eyewear. And now Apple may be planning a similar device.
Apple is looking at introducing smart glasses that would show images and information into the wearer’s field of view, say sources speaking to Bloomberg. The device would connect wirelessly to the wearer’s iPhone and could also use augmented reality.
The glasses are said to still in the early stages at Apple, with the company only ordering a small number of near-eye displays from one supplier for its internal testing. If Apple does decide to launch these glasses to the public, the release wouldn’t happen until 2018 at the earliest, says a source.
Apple hasn’t made any official announcements about these digital glasses, and it’s possible that this product will be killed off and never see any kind of public reveal. Apple is a huge company, and so it makes sense that it would regularly investigate new products but ultimately decide to scrap them if it can’t build those products exactly how it wants.
All that said, Apple CEO Tim Cook has expressed interest in augmented reality in the past, saying things like “AR can be really great, and we have been and continue to invest a lot in this” and “We are high on AR for the long run. We think there are great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity.” While Google Glass ultimately failed, Apple could learn from Glass’s mistakes and use improved technology to release headwear that fares better than Google’s effort.
What do you think of today’s report? Would Apple have success with its own pair of digital glasses?
