out of curiosity, where do you go and what do you do with glasses on but no phone?
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Apple's 2026 Smart Glasses: Five Key Features to Expect
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out of curiosity, where do you go and what do you do with glasses on but no phone?
this. AI Siri is the lynchpin to this product, just as it is for Apple Home. Apple have to get it right.
I think Apple are going down the wrong path here. Amongst the community I interact with (stereo/3D), "simple" display glasses, for example https://next.xreal.com/air2ultra/ at $400, are well received and free you for looking at the phone screen.
You still carry your phone around? What for?
I only take it when I know I will take pictures.
awesome that that's how you use it.
For both good and bad, I use my phone for a lot more things (wallet, shopping list, means to communicate, etc) so it's almost always with me
No it didn't. This is for sure being released. More a question of when, not if.
People used to not charge their watches every night either and now millions do so...
AR glasses are a different ballgame, but I agree with you on these glasses, being a normal user. Waste of time and resources and rather pathetic of Apple if they do release them.
For form factor and battery life if Apple can't do at least as well as Even Realities has done with its G1 glasses - https://www.evenrealities.com/g1 - then the first generation won't be for me.
That's just form factor of course and I suspect a big percentage of people here would consider the G1s to be seriously functionally deficient by today's standards (low resolution monochrome display, no speakers and no camera) but for getting what is still a reasonable amount of smart technology in a form factor that really can pass as regular glasses and with genuine all-day battery life I think Even Realities has nailed it.
If Apple can do whatever it's going to do within a G1-like form factor (just in terms of bulk, not necessarily the identical look although personally I really like the look of the rectangular G1s) but with better functionality in terms of adding speakers, going up to a pair of at least a somewhat higher resolution colour displays (they don't need to be something that will give you a cinematic Netflix experience in a first generation that is (I hope) trying to look like normal glasses), and a camera then I'd become interested.
As someone who needs to wear glasses all day I would also want genuine all-day battery life but with current technology, even for Apple with it's massive R&D budget, impressive semiconductor design teams, and access to all the super-efficient silicon it's already developed I suspect that for what I consider the trifecta of features for this class of product...
1 - Looks like normal glasses that won't have people staring at the wearer in the street.
2 - Solid functionality to include reasonable resolution colour stereo displays, mic, speakers and at least 1 camera.
3 - Genuine all-day (18 to 24 hour) battery life.
... then even next year the state of the art will only be able to deliver 2 out of 3 of the above in any single product and for Apple's first offering I suspect the compromise will be with battery life. Maybe Apple can get to AirPod Pro levels of battery life but for a regular glasses wearer that still means losing the smart functionality half way through the day or having to recharge at some point which is awkward if you really can't see without prescription glasses on (you either need to charge them while still wearing them, carry a spare pair of dumb glasses around to wear while your smart glasses are on a charger, or be sure that you can sit quietly in a corner without really needing to interact much with the outside world while your glasses are charging - none of those options being particularly appealing to me).
That's just form factor of course and I suspect a big percentage of people here would consider the G1s to be seriously functionally deficient by today's standards (low resolution monochrome display, no speakers and no camera) but for getting what is still a reasonable amount of smart technology in a form factor that really can pass as regular glasses and with genuine all-day battery life I think Even Realities has nailed it.
If Apple can do whatever it's going to do within a G1-like form factor (just in terms of bulk, not necessarily the identical look although personally I really like the look of the rectangular G1s) but with better functionality in terms of adding speakers, going up to a pair of at least a somewhat higher resolution colour displays (they don't need to be something that will give you a cinematic Netflix experience in a first generation that is (I hope) trying to look like normal glasses), and a camera then I'd become interested.
As someone who needs to wear glasses all day I would also want genuine all-day battery life but with current technology, even for Apple with it's massive R&D budget, impressive semiconductor design teams, and access to all the super-efficient silicon it's already developed I suspect that for what I consider the trifecta of features for this class of product...
1 - Looks like normal glasses that won't have people staring at the wearer in the street.
2 - Solid functionality to include reasonable resolution colour stereo displays, mic, speakers and at least 1 camera.
3 - Genuine all-day (18 to 24 hour) battery life.
... then even next year the state of the art will only be able to deliver 2 out of 3 of the above in any single product and for Apple's first offering I suspect the compromise will be with battery life. Maybe Apple can get to AirPod Pro levels of battery life but for a regular glasses wearer that still means losing the smart functionality half way through the day or having to recharge at some point which is awkward if you really can't see without prescription glasses on (you either need to charge them while still wearing them, carry a spare pair of dumb glasses around to wear while your smart glasses are on a charger, or be sure that you can sit quietly in a corner without really needing to interact much with the outside world while your glasses are charging - none of those options being particularly appealing to me).
They don't have to worry. Most Apple users are locked in regardless of what other options are available. The hilarious thing is that consumers think they're making a conscious choice to be tied to their better 'ecosystem' when in reality it's usually the OS making competitive products less functional. It's really smart by Apple and impressive that it's allowed, general users are happy without competition and with incremental updates rather than breaking any barriers.
I honestly hope that Apple doesn't release this device. These are currently (rightfully) 100% associated as creepy and privacy-violating devices that no-one truly wants to wear because of that. And even for those left that still do want to wear them for some use case, they're not practical because they're too big (yes even the new meta raybans).
You'd guess Apple would have learned from their advertisement fiasco with the creepy situation of parents filming their kids birthday wearing their Apple Vision Pro.
You'd guess Apple would have learned from their advertisement fiasco with the creepy situation of parents filming their kids birthday wearing their Apple Vision Pro.
I'd love to see one whole arm given over to the battery and for that arm to have magnetic attachment, and therefore be swappable. Then any concerns about battery life are immaterial, even ship it with 2 battery-arms. Also the battery arm should charge on a magsafe charger.
I bought a pair of Meta ray bans off marketplace over the summer to toy around, expecting them to be very gimmicky. I have to say, 3 months on they've grown on me quite a bit. The headphone aspect surprised me a lot, I love my air pod pros but sometimes you want to be more present with your surroundings. Camera quality also pretty good for videos. Useless for photos for me. I even started asking Meta AI questions that would have taken longer than pulling my phone out for Siri.
Looking forward to this segment growing more competitive.
Looking forward to this segment growing more competitive.
That’s all on possible on the Apple Watch, but I appreciate that people have different preferences. I trust that you do, too. That was the point I was trying to bring across.
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your point is very important: having our phone always with us makes us more distracted and less present, and I fear most of us are (still) profoundly unaware of the tradeoff we're making
I like the idea of hot-swappable arms, but the MagSafe coil in the AirPods case is almost the size of the bottom half so imagine how that would look. Something more along the lines of the Apple Pencil wireless charging makes more sense.
I hope this happens SOON… Apple needs a new device win…
1) Create multiple frame styles (colors shapes, etc)
2) Make the battery last longer than Meta's
3) Use the Apple Watch as the "wrist" band to help control, but not required.
1) Create multiple frame styles (colors shapes, etc)
2) Make the battery last longer than Meta's
3) Use the Apple Watch as the "wrist" band to help control, but not required.
It's not about what I personally "want", it's about justifying buying yet another gadget that will not contribute to anything beneficial. I wear my watch for fitness and AirPods for music and notifications, and everything else on iPhone. Why do I need to purchase a pair of smart glasses that will not at least replace one of my existing devices?