Apple Cancels Mac-Connected AR Smart Glasses

[rymc02]

Sounds like the lenses in the AVP are a lot closer to the user's eyes than in the Quest 3, even with the light gasket in place on both.

If you find the AVP's face gasket is more uncomfortable than the Quest 3's, then since I find the Quest 3's gasket to be pretty painful after an hour or two, I can only imagine how uncomfortable I might be with the AVP's gasket. I'm glad that the more common path to XR hardware development has become the glasses and goggles form factors, rather than the huge light gasket face hugger design of the AVP, Quest, etc.

Can we stop with this XR idea? You can't effectively combine AR and VR. VR is best with zero light leakage, an impossibility for glasses. So if you want AR, make glasses, if you VR, make a lightweight light blocking headset. Neither of which will be more than a niche market despite Meta's and Apple's best efforts.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

Can we stop with this XR idea? You can't effectively combine AR and VR. VR is best with zero light leakage, an impossibility for glasses. So if you want AR, make glasses, if you VR, make a lightweight light blocking headset. Neither of which will be more than a niche market despite Meta's and Apple's best efforts.

XR (extended reality) is the general umbrella term that's been in use for some years for all of these device form factors--VR, AR, MR, etc.--some with light blocking, some without, and some that allow you to have it either way by removing the light block. It doesn't denote an attempt to create a device with a single form factor. No matter what the form factor, these devices all share some distinct commonalities, and so the term "XR" was devised to cover them all when you're talking about the general idea of a device that hangs/straps onto your face and/or head that contains two screens for displaying things.

 

[frownface]

To give you an idea - assuming sales estimates are correct - if every single one of the (what I am told repeatedly on here is dead product/flop/failure) AVPs sold were base models, Apple would be at $1.4b in revenue for that product.

unsure what the margins are on those AVP's since they supposedly cost a lot to make to justify their price tag; but at 50% that's 700M which while it's a a good chunk of change it's unlikely to have covered the cost of the R&D.

 

[emrelee]

While all that sounds reasonable and perhaps possible, I'm not sure we need to call them "dumb ass designers"

I'm sure Apple looked at this from all angles and made a decision that makes sense for their priorities, in the context of what's possible product and business wise at this time.

I hold a B.A. in Industrial Design and an MFA in Concept Art, and I currently teach industrial design at a university. Sadly, my diplomas don’t come with a mythical blessing from Odin All-Father, proclaiming, "Whosoever holds this diploma, if he be worthy, shall wield the power of Thor."

Apple has a history of poor product choices, such as using materials that don’t last long, like leather phone cases that fall apart after a few weeks, or replacing them with woven cases that last only six months and are then discontinued.

Their iPad Pro cases leave the pencil prone to falling off the edge of the device.

The Touch Bar on their laptops was a terrible design choice that they reversed by switching back to regular keys.

The Magic Mouse has poor ergonomics and a poor charging port design. Apple chose the aesthetic they thought was best, which is also terrible to use.

Today, designers are often eclipsed by marketing teams obsessed with profits and social media hype. You see it in flashy, impractical projects like Kanye West’s Adidas collab or Virgil Abloh’s Mercedes-Maybach—a car that looks like a toddler’s sketch, likely a painful ordeal for the design and engineering teams.

Jobs was very demanding as far as they say about him pushing the teams to make things possible and doesn't roll out what is available at hand.
PS: I added the car that I mentioned above.