You can bet they’ll weave some Apple Watch band type spin on it. “Our new Apple Glass legs Spring collection comes in 5 new colours and 3 finishes plus Hermes ranging from £99-£899”
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 Glass' Rumored to Start at $499, Support Prescription Lenses, and More
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Just as I anticipated when the iPad Pro revealed the LiDAR, Apple's way around the creepiness of a camera on your face that doomed GoogleGlass, is to not include a camera. The LiDAR scanner can perform the necessary functions of telling the AR system what the user is looking at, without capturing visible light and it can be hidden beneath the surface of the glasses rather than have a lens pointed out at other people.
March, 2020
Apple has already revealed their first piece of Apple Glasses technology. One of the biggest areas of resistance to smart glasses is that they have a camera, making it uncomfortable in human interactions and taboo in places where some privacy is expected — in gyms, locker rooms, public bathrooms, even in corporate meeting rooms.
Apple Glasses most likely won't even have a camera at all, or at least not one that's always exposed — it won't need it. The LiDAR scanner that's been put in the new iPad Pro sits behind an opaque plastic. On Apple Glasses, this could be built completely invisibly in the bridge of the glasses. There will be no camera pointed at people. This LiDAR can do all the work that's necessary to superimpose AR objects as seen from the wearer's perspective. Everyone else will just see someone wearing regular looking glasses.
Apple tends to reveal technology in their current devices that go on to be used in unannounced products. Apple Watch debuted Force Touch which went on to become 3D Touch and the iPhone X's rounded OLED screen then appeared in the soon to be announced Apple Watch 4. The LiDAR sensor is small enough to fit in the bridge of a pair of glasses, hidden under plastic.
I anticipate that instead of having a camera in the glasses, we'll see one built into the Apple Watch face instead. It's something you can point at a subject to photograph and use the glasses' screen as your viewer. This would enable short FaceTime calls or video messages with the Watch which you can point at your face and could also be used to capture photos of people and things like you do with an iPhone today: intentionally pointing the camera at things rather than have a camera on your face always capturing what you may not want captured.
It's possible that an accessory, either from Apple or third parties would be able to be clipped to the glasses to capture first person perspective for sports and the like but I don't expect the glasses to have a standard camera built in.
March, 2020
Apple has already revealed their first piece of Apple Glasses technology. One of the biggest areas of resistance to smart glasses is that they have a camera, making it uncomfortable in human interactions and taboo in places where some privacy is expected — in gyms, locker rooms, public bathrooms, even in corporate meeting rooms.
Apple Glasses most likely won't even have a camera at all, or at least not one that's always exposed — it won't need it. The LiDAR scanner that's been put in the new iPad Pro sits behind an opaque plastic. On Apple Glasses, this could be built completely invisibly in the bridge of the glasses. There will be no camera pointed at people. This LiDAR can do all the work that's necessary to superimpose AR objects as seen from the wearer's perspective. Everyone else will just see someone wearing regular looking glasses.
Apple tends to reveal technology in their current devices that go on to be used in unannounced products. Apple Watch debuted Force Touch which went on to become 3D Touch and the iPhone X's rounded OLED screen then appeared in the soon to be announced Apple Watch 4. The LiDAR sensor is small enough to fit in the bridge of a pair of glasses, hidden under plastic.
I anticipate that instead of having a camera in the glasses, we'll see one built into the Apple Watch face instead. It's something you can point at a subject to photograph and use the glasses' screen as your viewer. This would enable short FaceTime calls or video messages with the Watch which you can point at your face and could also be used to capture photos of people and things like you do with an iPhone today: intentionally pointing the camera at things rather than have a camera on your face always capturing what you may not want captured.
It's possible that an accessory, either from Apple or third parties would be able to be clipped to the glasses to capture first person perspective for sports and the like but I don't expect the glasses to have a standard camera built in.
Can u seriously not take an educated guess. Travel directions. Notifications etc. It will be a visual version of Apple Watch. With some games thrown in.
Very exciting. As someone who has worn glasses all his life, with lasik not being an option, eyeglass upgrades are great. I have no option other than to wear glasses all the time,so tech upgrades in glasses are my life. Transition lens, polarized lens, anti glare coatings then blue light filtering lenses. I can see with so much more clarity day and night that most people dont experience. Now we got this. Dont let me down Apple. With just the basics like time, calendar incoming calls and gps it should be worth it. I pay $600 for a pair of glasses every 3 years or so that look almost identical to these. I would bet my eye insurance can cover the full cost of the lens and some of the frame. I dont mind using either Android or iPhone. So if this only supports iOS devices, i would not have any issues or gripes about this limitation.
Please Apple make this happen. Google is not stepping up as far as i can see , Benjamin Franklin is long gone, Elon Musk is busy sending his baby to Mars and im too responsible of an adult to need flexon frames. Glasses have been around for a very long time, this is the next step.
But the latest iPhones are much much more powerful than when the watch came out.
[automerge]1589930618[/automerge]
Can bet that those prescription lenses will add a whole bunch more to the cost
Think bigger. Plenty of great examples of usage here. I’m pretty sure it will be as customisable as the watch is in how ‘intrusive’ you want it to be. Only want Favourite list messages and map directions displayed in the lens? Turn off all notifications for everything else.
My own point about camera. I don’t think Apple will include a camera for the same reasons they don’t on the watch. Too many privacy concerns. Just leave it out and problem solved. Lidar scanner takes care of the mapping of your environment.
Last edited:
Exactly. What people keep misinterpreting about Google Glass is that it was nothing more than a floating mini screen in your peripheral vision. You looked up and to the corner and you'd see this little screen with information. Not at all what is being attempted with Apple Glass and AR in general.
While I don't expect the kind of fidelity seen in your video in this first version, that will be the goal to iterate towards. At first, there'll probably be a simplified OS that will superimpose information anchored to objects in the real world, gradually adding complexity with each version. On the other hand, if Apple pulls off a full holographic augmented reality world in this first version, they'll completely and suddenly change the world like they did with iPhone.
Where we're going, there are no phones. At least at some point in the future. Until then, they will be the towers to our eyeglass monitors.
Space Grey Aluminium frame with fluoroelastomer covered legs $499
First the watch companies, now the big name frame brands and opticians all over be warned. Luxottica deal to get them into stores nationwide.
I figure it will probably take about 4-5 versions before we see something like what many of us want.
Maybe even more than that. This is not going to be an easy technology. It will likely take a long time to mature. But it will be around a long time once it gets there.
Personally I think Apple should start collections of styles. At least at some point in time. Like the Braeburn Collection, The Fuji Collection, etc.
I'll give you that most people don't know, but millions of people do. Some people will even intentionally dance around the vehicles, just because they know it's recording.
Apple cares about the privacy of their customers. They don't care about the privacy of everyone else. If they did, they'd include an LED indicating when the back camera is on/recording.
Uh, what? Nothing magical has happened in the past 50 years leading to younger people not needing glasses anymore. Some people need them, some people don't.
The system would be opt-in. If you give consent by gesturing to the camera, it'll record without blurring. Otherwise, you'll be blurred. I figure recording would be like with dashcams - recording is always happening, constantly rewriting a ~minute long loop. The user doesn't initiate recording - the user initiates preserving the past minute so it doesn't get written over again.
I think it's necessary by the very nature of glasses that a wide variety of looks be available in the very first version. Apple got that with the Watch and even though it was nice to have options on something you put on your wrist, it's an absolute requirement for something as personal as eyewear.
My guess is that the main part of the frame including the bridge and perhaps a part of the arms will come in a few different colours and materials and the lenses, including the lower portion of the frame would be removable, allowing for different shaped lenses and adding prescriptions.
The arms would be swappable like Apple Watch bands, allowing users to change the look day to day and enabling a third party industry of Apple Glass designer looks to flourish. Apple could've gone after cheap Watch band makers that were using Apple's proprietary watch band mechanism but they didn't because it created a huge variety of looks that Apple could never get to on its own. The same will happen with Apple Glass.
Yeah my guess is that they’re not going to spend god knows how many millions developing a novelty pair of tech glasses so people can see their notifications one second earlier. My educated guess (and hope) is that they’ve cracked some really innovative and unexpected ways that these glasses could add a lot of value to people’s lives. And my bet is that the “obvious“ guesses about what this thing will do will miss the mark considerably.
Sure I watched videos on my phone. Read reviews on my phone. See the pattern.
I’m not downplaying it. Nothing I would use. I don’t want to be that connected to the internet. If Apple can hit another homerun, great. I may find a use for them but right now the idea of always online is Disconcerting. Im good with just my phone being connected.
Don’t think it will sell very well. The technology isn’t there yet to make the experience really smooth and enjoyable. I assume Siri will be part of the interface and it’s pretty rubbish right now.
For something like this to really take off it’s got to run like Iron mans suit interface lol, where speech and feedback is instant and actions happen instantly.
Will it have GPS sat nav functions so it overlays the digital data on the road or in the corner of my eye as I drive and directs me. That would be cool.
I expect very basic functionality with these if they do release it.
For something like this to really take off it’s got to run like Iron mans suit interface lol, where speech and feedback is instant and actions happen instantly.
Will it have GPS sat nav functions so it overlays the digital data on the road or in the corner of my eye as I drive and directs me. That would be cool.
I expect very basic functionality with these if they do release it.
Well first off, this is neither new nor innovative. Both Samsung and Google took a shot at wearable glasses tech (many) years ago. Don't remember what happened to Samsung"s prototype but Google's never came to fruition due to privacy concerns thanks mainly to it's camera, and because the tech was in it's infancy and just didn't look good aesthetically. This is just another idea apple made their own "polished" version of and will call the next best thing since their last best thing.
And second, Apple has a good track record but they absolutely do make flops. Most notably in my mind is Apple maps. Apple maps was absolutely terrible for a good few years after it launched. It's still inferior to many options out there but at least it doesn't have you driving into lakes anymore.
It uses iPhone processing and GPS. I suspect there will be plenty of computational horsepower.
[automerge]1589939121[/automerge]
It's a lot more than Google Glass, which pretty much just displayed information and photos.
There's a reason Apple released ARKit a couple years ago and has continued to update it, along with making huge investments in AR. Think about it. It's about AR.
Apple is going to come down on Jern like a tonne of bricks for this one. It’ll be interesting to watch from the sidelines but also... I kinda fear for his safety.
except for the fact that Apple has lately been trying to make their main stream products extremely clear.
The Apple Watch is... a watch
The Apple TV is used for TV.
The iPhone is... a phone.
Apple glass is a very simple name, and if you go up to a regular person and bring it up in conversation, they’ll probably think of a pair of glasses.
Also, Google glass was barely a product. You couldn’t buy it if you are part of the general public, you had to be A developer or on the invite list, also it was extremely expensive, and they weren’t running any TV commercials on it or anything. It clearly was not a product meant for every day consumers.
And most every day consumers have no idea what Google glass was, and if Apple came out with something called Apple glass, they wouldn’t be getting the two confused.
