Yeah because the Vision Pro is selling so well… Apple won’t repeat that mistake again
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Cancels Mac-Connected AR Smart Glasses
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
LOL when these “glasses” release it will be 10 years from now. Years after other companies have released their AR glasses and have perfected them. Want an all screen iPhone? That’s still years away but can be purchased today from other companies and have been out for years. Want a foldable iPhone? That too, is YEARS away, but a foldable device can be purchased today from other companies and has been available for years. Apple has blinded people and their only true selling points are “privacy” and the Apple ecosystem that works with all of Apple’s devices. That very same ecosystem is what makes consumers grasp onto their Apple devices and do not switch.
Shame, Tim loved these
Last edited:
Meta has nothing to offer either that is comparable. This is all speculation of future releases. Today NOW the best AR products are the Magic Leap 2, XReal Air Ultras (only) and Snap Spectacles (which is categorically a dev kit). XReal’s offers mostly head worn displays and Meta Ray Bans are just connected glasses. No real time understanding of reality to augment it.
Android devices are looking PRETTY spectacular these days and once Samsung releases their Vision Pro competitor that includes the Google Play store, AND most likely will be cheaper than the Vision Pro, it’s going to be quite tough for Apple to compete, especially if the rumors are true of the next new devices from them are a “home hub” and “smart camera”.
Translation of this article: Apple is rumored to no longer be developing the product which, until now, has only been rumored to be in development.
I didn’t see you mention Apple in there. You replied to my comment “Still better than what Apple has to offer”.
What are the actual use cases for AR glasses? What's the feature that will sell these over just a phone and/or a watch?
Apple, please don't cede the market to this douche canoe:
Turning MacBook into two screens or one huge screen. Would be sick on the go.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I suspect for a true glasses form factor, it will take wireless energy. Tesla took a crack at that but apparently the big problem was how to monetize electricity into monthly bills if it is freely distributed in the air. So not only did his test tower come down but every note about it, every little detail was suppressed/destroyed/etc. All that remains are some patent filings and a story of experimental failure (or was that monetary opportunism?).
After someone works out wireless energy- which is no small task if it is to be useful in this hypothetical product (and no, this can be nothing like MagSafe “wireless”) and somehow gets it distributed so it can't be killed/suppressed again (if you believe the conspiracy), regular glasses then have the problem of light intrusion from all sides, which would fog the "vision" in daylight. Consider how your iDevice screen looks outside in day vs. how it looks in the dark. This seems unsolvable in the "regular glasses" form factor... probably needing to be some kind optical implant, thus eliminating the need for glasses at all. The needed light shield would be your skull/skin. I don't even think magical VR/AR contacts that could somehow work could deal with this.
And so on. I'm one of the rare few around here that generally appreciates the Vpro as a complete solution that works in day or night, provides complete privacy, and provides an ANY size screen(s) without the size & weight having to scale to do the same (aka Fold & Roll options). I hope they continue to work on that product as it seems to be the BEST way to deliver what the whole industry is chasing: larger-to-much-larger MOBILE screens. Of the 4 new ways that are not just making the existing builds larger & heavier: 1) fold, 2) roll, 3) projector and 4) virtual, it seems best option to me.
Update: since posting this, I’m getting replies as if I’m projecting wireless energy is coming soon. I’m not. The point is that it would take a sci-fi innovation leap to deliver Vpro major benefits in “regular glasses.” I suspect this will continually roll out into the future like the fusion reactor breakthrough… always “just a couple of years away” for the last 40-50 years. There already are glasses form factor products but they fall well short of the “vision” offered by Vpro, starting with a great compromise down from 4K per eye, power is still tethered with a finite use life before some battery is drained and light intrusion fogs the “vision” in bright environments.
Last edited:
The information does not jive. Apple develops whole new technologies from scratch. NO WAY they didn't get at least close to Meta and SnapChat. They may have decided that tech in general needs to advance before they want to release a product with a specific feature set, but no way is the situation the way Mark Gurman describes it. It feels like a bad AI summary of years and millions of dollars of R&D 🤣
So they've cancelled the AR product that actually makes sense.. just not as a normal glass. Give me an 11-12" inch macbook under a kilogramm, and a light AR headset that connects to it via thunderbolt, and allows me to see and use the physical keyboard and touchpad. I only need a big screen in glasses, not forgetting where I put my apps in the house while looking like an absolute idiot, thank you.
The inverse square law is the big problem with wireless energy. Not monetization.
There is wireless energy, it's called magsafe, and it sucks.
Developing a new MagSafe battery pack must have been too hard… I guess we’re supposed to ignore the Vitures and XREALs of the world, as nothing is possible until Apple says it is. Would be nice to see what they could do with deep iOS integration, but I guess we won’t for a long while.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Personally, I think THIS^^^ would be a hot product. Put the current Vpro gigantic screens in the headset portion.
Where I would differ is make the MB portion lidless but maybe thicker than now to house enough battery to use it + the tethered headset for long flights. This is sort of already a thing, as people are buying MBs with damaged screens, removing the screens and then using the bottom halves with monitors... like a modernized Amiga 500 or Commodore 64...
AND, they've already found that they work with Vpro too. So that would be some pretty small stuff to go into the travel bag. When you get to some destination with a traditional screen, plug it in and use it like a desktop computer. When you don't have access to such a screen, pop on the headset portion and summon a monitor wherever you are.
The net target (view) could be towards THIS...
...minus all that weight and physical structure... and bringing full privacy in day or night... and/or to cramped row 17c uses.
When I go from big screen desktop to relatively tiny screen laptop for travel, I HATE it. Productivity plunges. But there's no way to bring the big screen with me as a physical device. Too heavy & cumbersome. Even if it could fold down (and some of that exists as products too), it's still too heavy, and I don't think the people in 17A & B will appreciate me unfolding a giant screen into their cramped space.
To give it some added appeal, put a virtual iPhone and virtual iPad in there too. Since both can already run on latest Mac screens, they would basically already be accessible on this virtual Mac screen.
Optionally, give it a cellular option (in Mac or in the headset) to bring on the approx. $1000 subsidy deal that makes phones "free" to tangibly reduce whatever Apple wants for it by $1000. For example, if Apple's price for this cut down Vpro "Jr" is- say- $2499, cellular subsidy creates the illusion of $1499... like it creates the illusion of "free*" iPhone now.
Last edited:
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I mean wireless everywhere one would wear this magical "regular glasses" device. It would need to be as "everywhere" as cell signals or radio.
I would love to never see the names Mark Gurman or Ming-chi Kuo again. They're less reporters/analysts than Apple trolls, spreading shaky rumors that are typically misleading or to Apple's detriment. They would have us believe that Apple is constantly delaying, cancelling or downgrading products that never actually existed or were planned to ship in the first place, just to attract attention and/or manipulate perception. It's a shame that so much of MacRumors coverage relies on these parasitic and disreputable sources.
Again, google inverse square law. This will never be a thing. It is far more likely battery technology will advance to level of energy density that will make something like a pair of glasses possible.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
You do know that both also offer early reveals about rumored new stuff coming from Apple that actually does arrive... keeping sites like this with plenty to write about it. Kill the professional rumor sources and you might kill this place. Sometimes the rumor is negative. Sometimes it is positive. But it keeps the rumor threads flying.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
...which is why I never believe the "regular glasses" want is arriving. They have to hold some kind of battery and we never seem to crack this breakthrough incredi-battery. They need some kind of processor and we're running out of nanometers. They need densely-packed lenses if we want clear 4K-per-eye like Vpro and not 1080p or less like the others (and their "blurry" problem), which then needs plenty of power, which has nowhere to fit into "regular glasses" frames.
If we want "regular glasses" we need massive breakthroughs in ideas like wireless energy, as I just don't anticipate a tiny battery to hide in a "regular glasses" frame able to hold extended use energy.
These are the BIG problems we get into once we start spinning how we want the Vpro in "regular glasses" for dirt cheap pricing. We might as well call for holodecks and warp drives.
Last edited:
Even phone batteries aren’t big enough. Current AR/VR headsets have significantly higher power requirements than phones.